Eos
by leradny
Summary: Kairi goes back to Hollow Bastion in an attempt to regain her past. No such luck. Although... she does find a future. LeonKairi.
1. Song

**Eos**

_If thou be'est born to strange sights,  
Things invisible to see,  
Ride ten thousand days and nights,  
Till age snow white hairs on thee,  
Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me  
All strange wonders that befell thee,  
And swear  
Nowhere  
Lives a woman true, and fair._

"Song" (John Donne)

* * *

The King can send messages through to other worlds, and evidently he can send people as well. When Kairi clumsily asks if he can take her to the place she once lived, he points her to the secret place and grins, a little like Sora. "Why sure, little lady! Just hop on down with me and I'll take you. I can take your friends there, too, if you'd like."

"No... I think I'll go it alone for a bit. I don't know exactly what will happen, but I'm sure I'll be all right."

"Well, if you say so." Mickey holds a hand out expertly and a keyblade appears, just like that. "But only if you let me come with you, at least--I don't think you've learned how to open doors quite yet. And anyway I don't feel _right,_ leaving people alone. Do you remember what happened when--"

The sudden abruptness of the (not-so) secret place may have cut him off, but Kairi senses another reason, too. He knows that they both once knew about something, but he may have cut himself off; so maybe he knows she can't remember as well. But how does Mickey know either of those things? Most importantly: How does he know she can't remember anything when she hasn't seen him since she was six?

"It'll only take a minute," the king assures her. "Here we go!"

_...Yes, yes, she remembers--!_

_-break-_

"D'aww," Mickey says, upon arrival to Hollow Bastion. "I was hoping they'd be _finished_ with the place. But it's still as gloomy as before!"

"Gloomy," Kairi muses, looking at the castle's turrets and feeling a slight stir in her slow-beating heart. But just that; Hollow Bastion is still too... well, hollow to send much of anything through her already empty memories. Nothing besides the dull click that she has seen this castle before--or something like it--drawn onto the walls of the secret place. Only for that. Nothing from before she was six.

"Do you remember anything yet?" the king asks her.

"Unfortunately not, your Highness."

"Ah, just call me Mickey. Royalty to royalty, you know--even though that's not really why I--"

"Right, right! I guess I _can_ just call you Mickey." Kairi laughs a little bit nervously. The empty roads and still-fading darkness in this humongous sprawling place are not something she enjoys much at all. She wants to go back home, to the place she feels safe in. Even if it _is_ a little small...

"Hey there--hey!" A short, black-haired, star-wielding young woman greets them as they traverse the lowered drawbridge together. She waves from a window, yellow scarf flowing in the wind and shuriken glaring. "Are you new here?"

"Sort of!" Mickey calls back. "Just taking a tour of the place."

"Allow me, then!" The bright scarf girl vanishes into the castle for a moment and then comes trumping across the wooden planks to meet them in the middle. "My name is Yuffie Kisaragi, at your service. Who might you two be?"

"Mickey," the king answers.

"Kairi." She notices the lack of title.

"Kairi..." Yuffie smiles a little--it must be her thinking face as she tilts her head up to the faded blue sky, darkening into twilight very quickly. "That's weird; you look _so_ much like a Kairi! Ah, the red hair... blue eyes... or maybe I'm being a weirdo. Well, come on--grand tour of the former Radiant Garden straight away! We're going to have loads of fun!"

_-break-_

There's not much to Hollow Bastion-Radiant Garden (Hollow Garden? Since it doesn't feel like radiant _anything..._) and the emptiness only makes it worse. Empty walls, empty halls--not a picture or person in sight as the three of them walk, walk, walk. But the library is different from the echoing corridors--once Yuffie opens the door the sound is swallowed up and two brown-haired people who could very well be brother and sister, if not twins, are sitting quietly. Researching... something that involves a lot of books and fragile parchments scattered around.

"Hello, Yuffie," says the older woman, cordially enough. But she is clearly engrossed in her reading and only registers Kairi and Mickey after a few moments. "Oh! And hello to you two as well! Ah..."

"Kairi," Kairi supplies helpfully.

"Mickey," the king supplies as well. His high-pitched voice is enough to make the other person lift his head a little.

"And I'm Aerith," the woman says. Kairi likes Aerith already; even while distracted and busy she's still nice enough to acknowledge complete strangers, while radiating some sort of soothing aura. And also she's wearing _pink and white_, which Kairi takes as a very good sense of style. The other person, who hasn't spoken or introduced himself or even acknowledged the presence of anyone else besides himself--he is someone who Kairi feels a bit wary about.

There is an unsheathed sword leaning on the arm of the couch, obviously ready for anything. Almost entirely black-clad and sharp, he can't help but look commanding; even with several books around him, stacked and closed neatly in small piles.

"Geez, Leon!" Yuffie hammers at him. "Social, much?"

"Sorry." But he's not looking at Yuffie, he's looking at the king and Kairi--revealing piercing gray-blue eyes and a long scar across his face. "I was busy." Kairi wonders where he got that scar. He didn't have it...

Before...

"Do you remember yet?" Micky whispers as Yuffie hovers around Aerith and Leon, bugging them with questions just like Sora does.

"Why are we being quiet?" Kairi whispers back.

"Because we're in a library."

She decides that makes the most sense even though she knows it's not the real reason. She knows she used to live in this world (back when it was Radiant), and she knows these people did, too... so why doesn't she remember?

"Oh, we're in a library! Right!" Yuffie's exclamation is swallowed in pointed glances and even a glare, from Leon.

"I think I'm going to stay here for a while," Kairi tells Mickey, no longer whispering. "I've never seen these books."

"_I_ think you have," the king tells her, still quiet. Then, a little louder: "Well, if you don't mind, everyone--I'm going to explore some more."

"The tour!" Yuffie bounces back to Mickey's side and leads him through another door, way on the other side of the library. "This next room is a good one--it's the _torture_ room!"

"Please, Yuffie, don't play on the rack!" Aerith calls. "It was hard enough getting you out last time when you--"

"All right, okay, no rack!" Yuffie yells, overpowering Aerith's concern. "I can crack so many jokes about that it isn't funny. So I won't."

"Gee, thanks a lot," the king tells her. Rapidly their voices fade away as Kairi pulls out a dusty hardcover and flicks to the table of contents. _One Thousand and One Nights_...

_-break-_

The clever queen has just started to tell her tale when it ends abruptly--not with the end of the story, but with Aerith excusing herself and following the path which Mickey and Yuffie took, to the torture chamber. "I just have a feeling that something is going very_ badly _back there," she tells them. "I probably won't need any help, but if I do... well, I'll call you, Leon. Or maybe Cid. Depends on which door I'm closest to."

"I hope it's Cid," Leon replies evenly.

"I'll see you in a minute, Kairi," Aerith adds, as a courtesy. "I hope..."

Brow furrowed, Aerith leaves in a swish of petticoats and hair, Kairi notices, which didn't look so long from the front. When she casts a glance at Leon his hair is also quite long in the back, a veritable mane of brown hair (like Riku's?). That, along with the bangs, adds to the similarity in appearance; but their personalities are so markedly different that Kairi thinks twice about labeling them siblings.

"I know what you're thinking, and we're _not._" Kairi nearly drops the book as that is the first time Leon has spoken directly to her. But she recovers as he goes on indifferently, "We are neither twins, nor siblings, nor cousins, nor anything of the sort. We just _look_ similar and tolerate each other for extended periods of time."

"Convergent evolution?" Kairi asks, the first thing that comes to mind. Like sharks and dolphins...

"Entirely."

Yes, and Leon would be the shark.

_-break-_

Sinbad is buried with his wife by the time Aerith comes pattering back into the library. "Leon! Have you seen Cid?"

Leon shakes his head. "Well, I'm right here so I might as well--"

"No, it kind of has to be Cid." An awkward pause. "I checked and he's not in his room--do you know where else he'd be?"

Leon checks the humongous brassy clock on the wall, all showy engravings and feathers. "Ah, four-thirty-seven... I'm guessing it's about time for Cid's cigarette break."

"Oh. Right. Well, I hope he's on the drawbridge like he usually is or else..." Aerith trails off. "I-I'll just go."

"See you, Aerith."

"Er, bye--" And off she goes.

Leon doesn't bother to look like he's _trying_ to look like he's wondering what's going on. A dozen different scenarios _would_ have flashed through Kairi's mind if she had known what exactly Cid was so good at doing that Aerith would _have_ to go to him instead of just Leon. But nosy questioning can wait until later, after the presumed life-threatening situation is past.

For now, Kairi reads, and decides she hasn't seen this before. Not _really..._

_-break-_

"You can sit down, you know."

Kairi's ankles are aching but she can't seem to put the book down--so she memorizes the shelf and the books to the side of it before allowing herself to walk to the plain red couch Leon is sitting on, and sitting at the very opposite end of it. She likes propping her elbows on something while she reads, and she doesn't feel like moving all those fragile-looking parchments spread out on Aerith's couch. Although, now that she's sitting relatively close she can't continue stealing furtive glances at Leon without being incredibly conspicuous about it.

Something struck Kairi as familiar about Leon. It might have been the bangs, or the masculine silence, but she thinks that the deja-vu sensation she's getting is because of her friends. Leon definitely has Sora's hair color and something of Riku's personality--Kairi recognized his wry humor immediately after seeing it in action for years. But... there is something else. Something chilling her to the bone after being here for as long as she has; something that has nothing to do with either of her boys.

She thinks...

She remembers this place.

_-break-_

"How did you _get_ here, by the way?" Leon asks, as if they've been talking for hours.

Someone less quiet than Riku would have been put off by the sudden start, but as it is Kairi looks up a little and shrugs. "Mickey brought me here."

"Hmm." The swordsman muses over that (like a shark muses over something alive in the water, kicking and struggling but delaying the frenzy by not bleeding). Something dangerously ambiguous is in his voice, either recognition or memory or suspicion--Kairi knows there is a reason for Mickey not introducing himself as king to these people and she is alarmed by Leon's silence. But then he says something else entirely: "Have you ever been here before?"

"Me?" Kairi fumbles and loses her page as she does. "Um... I don't remember ever being here, actually. But I..."

"Look at me." Kairi looks at him for a moment, and then averts her gaze. He always seems to be scrutinizing the things he sees, at the very least. Even the books he reads, as Kairi had already found out, are not safe from his stare. But gradually she looks up, and finds him simply peering at her with little of the steel she had noticed; only curiosity. "You don't remember being here, do you?"

"No..." She smiles nervously and brings her book down to her lap in order to have something to look at, though she is unwilling to turn completely away from him.

"Well, I'm sure there are other red-haired, blue-eyed girls lingering around this world."

"What?"

"I think I remember you," he states plainly.

"Well..." Kairi tries to find her page. "That isn't your fault. See, I honestly don't remember a thing from before I was six, and by then I was already on a different world. So, who knows what could have happened?"

"Oh?"

"Yes. And I'm really only here because Mickey thought it would be a good idea for me to see... what happened. To everything."

There is a question about to escape into the air, she can see that. Something along the lines of 'What exactly is Mickey's importance, that he knows these things and takes you from other worlds to here?' Which distresses Kairi because she would have to explain that Mickey is a king. But Leon forgoes that in favor of: "You are quieter now than you were."

"I am?" Kairi feels heartened by this and feels like asking more questions.

"Yes. But you also talk more easily. You _could_ be that redheaded girl; the one who disappeared before everything happened; the one who never came back when things changed again. We looked for that girl back in Traverse Town--Aerith especially--before the years stretched out and we gave up. But I don't know if it's you. Like I said, there could be others."

Leon returns to his perusal of the books in front of him. They are clearly old books and expressly _not_ for pleasure. Kairi does not feel as excited as before and instead averts her eyes to the book, feeling scrambled up and simply waiting for Mickey to come back. From wherever he is, whatever he's doing. Something that requires someone else to help Aerith get him out of trouble...

_-break-_

What feels like ages later: Mickey, Aerith, and Yuffie along with a fourth person (the Cid they've been talking about, Kairi presumes) open the door to the library looking messy and flustered and generally adventure-swept. Kairi stands up and the king gives her a sheepish smile. "Ha... I think we'd better get going now, Kairi. Sorry we couldn't stay longer, you guys!"

"No problem!" Yuffie answers. "Hanging out with you is a_ blast_, Mick! I'd pick you over stuffy old Lionheart any day." There is a slight twist in Leon's forehead as a muscle brings up one straight eyebrow. Then the swordsman scoffs and returns to his book. So much like Riku... That Kairi is distracted a little when she and the King get back to Destiny Islands to find Riku sitting quietly, waiting for them.

"Hey there," Riku says calmly, with no trace of worry in his clear, clear eyes. "Something important happen?"

"Yes," Kairi says.

It doesn't feel important enough for a lie... and anyway Riku can take it. She is right in the second count, at least, because Riku nods and reaches one pale hand out to help her up the last few steps. But Kairi still feels a little bit guilty about something, and she wonders what sort of stain would remain on a Princess of Heart who has not lied. She tries not to think about the fact that she was counting on Riku not to ask for anything else; tries to ignore the sinking feeling in her chest as she walks upwards into the bright sunshine flanked by her best friend and a king.

She tries to ignore the fact that before she went back to Hollow Bastion, Riku was Riku and Sora was Sora. Now Kairi sees little bits of Leon whenever Riku reads quietly; flashes of Yuffie when Sora smiles. Kairi wonders...

If she grew her hair long enough and waited ten more years, would she fit into Aerith's shoes?

_-break-_

"I am sure that there are other redheaded girls who left and never came back."

That's what Leon had said, or something like it. And Kairi tries to ignore that, too, as best she can. But it's hard; Kairi has lost her memories twice and whenever she goes to sleep she has to try and keep things in her head for the longest time possible, repeating things over and over. She only has the present to abide by and she has developed an iron-clad grip on these days, so much that every detail of Hollow Bastion is etched into her mind and she _can't_ stop thinking about Leon.

Perhaps that is what she's so guilty about: Her foundation (whatever foundation an amnesiac has) is slowly crumbling now, being replaced with new things. But what's worse is that Kairi will never forget this place, for as long as she is able. Unlike when she was six and arrived at the Destiny Islands in a shower of light, she will remember every brick as she chips it out of the ground, one by one. Selphie's cheerfully gravity-defiant hairstyle, Tidus and Wakka drilling each other in blitzball practice for the game, Riku and Sora themselves...

Kairi wants, suddenly and so fiercely it surprises herself, to not remember anything again, to start over like she did so long ago. Easy, right? Kairi steels herself under the covers and resolves not to remember anything about Hollow Bastion from this point forth--even if it goes against the grain of everything she's worked for these past years.

_-break-_

Kairi is dreaming, but not about emptiness or seagulls snatching ice cream from her cone this time. She dreams about wandering aimlessly through a castle which she knows is called Radiant Garden; and it is radiant, radiant. Tapestries on the hallways are flush with rich color and mark her passage through the halls as she ambles, picking things up and putting them down again. Or not. There are beautiful things on the walls, on stands next to doors--but still not a person in sight.

Then, suddenly, she is in the torture room, which she has never seen. There is not enough room in Kairi's waking life pockets to fit a fraction of the things Kairi keeps, but in the dream world anything goes. So when she hears precise, quick, muffled steps across a floor that hasn't been walked on in years (but it's still bright, the floors have been polished to a sheen), Kairi's hands are empty and she feels naked. Defenseless.

A young man is standing in the doorway, fierce and leather-clad like Leon. "You are not supposed to be here," he says sternly, sounding uncannily like Leon. But everything is wrong: This young man is stern, but Leon is not stern. (More like observant and cutting.) Young, a little past Kairi's age perhaps; but Leon is not young.

_And he has no scar on his face like Leon._

"Leon?" Kairi asks uneasily, feeling for her thalassa shell charm in the midst of all the things she picked up and feeling nothing. She edges towards the open door.

He turns and looks around. "Leon?" (As he turns, she can see his hair is short in the back. Immaculate, even, though a different sort of perfect from Leon's.)

"Yes... Leon."

"That is _not_ my name." Leon is not stiff like this person, either. "I should ask Ansem if civilians are allowed in here."

"No!" Kairi fumbles. "No, I'm leaving--see? Right now!"

"If I don't take you out, how will I know you won't come back?" Before she can protest at all, Not-Leon has her wrist in a very tight grip.

"But wait!" Confused, and a little annoyed (he is even ruder than Riku can be at his worst, and Riku can get _plenty_ discourteous), Kairi attempts to pull away and explain herself. But no matter how much she pulls, he does not release her. A strange thing about the young man is that no matter how much Kairi struggles, it doesn't hurt either. She is just being pulled in a direction she does not want to go. "I'm lost!"

He stops pulling at last, though he still does not let go. "You are?"

"Yes; I don't know where I am. I have never been to that room before--I was trying to get to the library."

"Hmm." He turns completely and peers into her face. Leon or not, this person has the exact same gray-blue eyes and it distracts her. After scrutinizing Kairi intently for any signs of dishonesty, he releases her wrist at last. "Well, why didn't you say so? The library has moved from where it usually is; but I know where to go."

"Er..." This helpfulness is not familiar, either. Kairi knows Riku likes helping people out if they haven't irritated him recently. However, Riku uses contractions in his speech and he would not have held on so_ tightly._ "Thank you."

"My name is Squall," the boy says. He opens the library door to a room full of bright light and fresh colors, and _people_. More people than she has ever seen in one place, being quieter than she could imagine. "Here is the library..."

Kairi notices the pause and fills in her name.

"_Kairi?_" Squall is surprised.

"What?"

He gestures, pointedly refraining from pointing, to a dot of red in the corner. "There is another Kairi here, but she is younger than you. I think it is odd that you would both have red hair." Kairi follows with her gaze, watching as the little Kairi giggles and bounces in glee, in response to something the old woman in the rocking chair tells her.

"Kairi..." she muses, feeling her name connect to the smaller person as well as herself.

"Do you know her?" Squall asks. "That is her grandmother in the chair, by the way."

"I..." Kairi squints a little. The little redheaded girl is cowed a bit by her grandmother's warning and her bounces from then on are rather subdued. Kairi shakes her head slightly and answers, "No. I don't know her."

She doesn't bother to get any closer.

_-break-_

Kairi wakes up and is immediately distracted by the light pouring into her eyes. She'd been so preoccupied last night that she'd forgotten to close her curtains and the broken day streams in unabated. Is it Monday? Tuesday? Perhaps it is Saturday after all, but she is torn between being busy at school and having the whole weekend at home to think about things, like these very strange feelings awakening in her. These very strange... dreams...

"L... Leon? Squall..."

"Hey, Kairi! Hey!"

But Kairi doesn't have time to think about this. She finishes tying her tie, grabs her bookcase, bids her father goodbye and is out the door to catch up with Selphie and be in time for school. She feels stiff and unwieldy; and she sorely wants time to think instead. _But that's always the case with these things,_ Kairi thinks.

_No matter what you choose you will always want the other, as long as you are unsure that it is right._

_-break-_

The King is not there when Kairi shakes the boys away with some sort of flimsy (valid) excuse and opens the door to the secret place. She hadn't expected him to be here anyway; but she does wonder how Mickey managed to open the door. He is a King, but he opened it using a keyblade, and Kairi just happens to have one all riddle with flowers across the handle, so there must be something she can do with it.

Something... like...

Kairi steps further down into the murky blue walls of the secret place and feels her keyblade appear. She wonders if Sora had to do this, or something like it during his year long absence from the Isles.

"Dear heart," something whispers to her. Kairi turns, but sees nothing and feels edgy with unused mental energy stirring into action. "Dear heart, you look just like a princess in that dress..."

_Royalty to royalty._

Kairi takes a deep breath and stands up straight, smack in the middle of the cavern. Then on a hunch she looks up and points her keyblade to a single scratched star on the ceiling, something even Riku could never reach with height alone. She wonders why she never saw that before.

_Well, we never thought to look __**up...**_

_-break-_

It feels strange, being alone at Hollow Bastion. All of it pointy tiers and dark towers, looming over Kairi's fingers like a leviathan's jaws. But she has been here before, at least once, and she makes her way to the drawbridge with no problem. There, however, she is surprised by Aerith waiting for her.

"Hello, Kairi," Aerith greets her kindly. "I thought you'd be coming back here; but, I didn't think you'd be alone."

"Mickey has... things he must do," Kairi falters, abruptly feeling like an idiot for bringing it up.

"Don't worry--I can tell you're looking for something. Come on in--I'll make some tea. Or lemonade, if you want to pretend that it's hot instead."

"Lemonade sounds fine."

Aerith smiles, friendly but a bit enigmatic as well. Kairi wonders why.

_-break-_

The table is as full as it will ever get. Leon, Yuffie, and Cid are waiting quietly in their seats as Aerith comes in, with Kairi following. "Hang on, I'll get the lemonade ready."

Leon blinks. Cid chokes on his cigarette and Yuffie looks downright alarmed.

"Whoa! Hang _on_ there, little white mage, you said you'd give us _tea!_"

"I'm _giving_ you tea!" Aerith assures Cid calmly, getting some lemons and starting to slice them expertly. "But Kairi said she wanted lemonade."

"_Aerith!_" Yuffie caterwauls. "It was a three-to-one victory! Tea, _not_ lemonade! That goes for last-minute voters as well--it doesn't count, and we're _all_ having _tea!_"

"Gosh, you all really like my tea..."

Leon stands up. "Aerith."

"Yes, Leon?"

"Give me that."

"Why?" The brunette seems genuinely puzzled. Kairi at this point has no idea what on earth is going on and she's just going with the flow. "I don't mind making just one more glass..."

"Let _Leon_ make it!" Yuffie counters. "He is good! At doing things! Many things! Lemonade-making included--just sit yourself down, back _away_ from the knives, and _relax!"_ A humongous, nervous gasp of air, and then: "It's not like _Leon_ can anyway!"

"_Yuffie,_" Aerith reprimands softly; though she does sit down after a moment. Leon quietly slices the rest of the lemons in half as Kairi drags herself out of her confused stupor to actually make some small talk with the others. There is some sort of crisis, she reasons out fruitlessly, that has something to do with Aerith's ineptitude at lemonade-making; something so important Leon had to step up instead.

Yuffie is looking much less sickly-pale and Cid is smoking a cigarette in regular puffs by the time a glass is set down quietly in front of Kairi's hands (which are folded on top of the table). "Here," Leon says." He sits down and the knot of tension in the middle of his shoulders loosens bit by bit, as if to tell everyone silently:

_Crisis averted._

_-break-_

Halfway through drinking their drinks and conversing quietly, Yuffie slams her cup down and clutches her torso. "Oh, ow--my stomach hurts! I... I think I'm going to throw up!" She clambers out of her sitting position as Cid stands quickly and, not quite faster than the eye can see, tips his teacup over.

"Hang on, Yuffie... I'll, uh, hold your head or something."

"...You what now?" Yuffie asks. Even Kairi is surprised at this flimsy excuse.

"Yeah, uh... moral support or some crap like that. Right? _...Right?_"

Yuffie doesn't take it for a second. She points with one gloved hand and declares bluntly, "Cid doesn't like your tea!"

"What? _Sure_ I do! I--" Cid fumbles for words as Aerith looks somewhat crushed at the revelation. "I just knocked my cup over in my attempt to assist Yuffie in her... Ack. Fuck. I'm getting it, aren't I?"

Aerith scowls as her green eyes well up. And she still manages to make it look _pretty._ "You sure _are!_ Why didn't you just _say_ something instead of knocking your cup over and pretending it was an accident? You _hate_ helping Yuffie! A-and evidently you hate my tea as well--"

"Agh, it was a bad batch or something! Rotten leaves--it's not _all_ the time I..." Cid sputters to a halt as Yuffie stealthily sneaks away and Aerith looks closer to tears than Kairi has ever seen anyone. The only blond in the room casts a vicious glance at Leon, sitting quietly. "You! Leon! Help me out here, why don't you?"

Leon's response is to calmly drain his cup of tea.

Cid turns and runs. "_Yuffie!_"

Aerith runs after him, furious. "Don't you _dare_ run away from me--_Cid!_ And don't hurt Yuffie, either!" Still unsure of what just happened, Kairi finishes her average-tasting lemonade and watches Leon out of the corner of her eye. He takes a napkin and wipes his mouth before convulsing suddenly and coughing.

"Uck."

Kairi looks up.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Leon tells her.

She shrugs and swirls the half-melted ice cubes around in her lemonade, rounded edges making soft clinks in the midst of the drink. "It was kind of like watching my friends fight over things. They've been friends for a very long time."

"So have they." Leon gestures, pointedly not pointing to the door. Kairi sips quietly as the yells and sounds of running decrease, wondering if just outside the edge of her vision Leon is watching her intently and wondering if she is going to finish it. After the silence becomes good and unbearable she takes one final swallow and shoves it quickly into the middle of the table.

"I-it's good. You're good at doing things, like Yuffie said."

"Thank you."

"But I don't think I'm going to finish it. Too cold outside for that."

It sits, liquid sloshing to a halt as she avoids looking at Leon and shouldering the fierceness of that gaze. Then Leon reaches out with a creak of shifting leather and asks her, "Do you mind?"

She shakes her head quietly, and perhaps a bit nervously. "Not at all."

Leon takes the glass and downs it all at once. Kairi watches him and marvels: What a man. _What a man._ He doesn't even shiver as the ice cubes slide through.

_-break-_

Gradually Kairi gets the sense that her two best friends are getting further and further away, or a glass wall is coming between them; so one day she takes Riku over and asks, "Riku? If I tell you something important will you promise not to hate me?" Her silver-haired friend takes this moment to pause and think about his reaction. Then, as usual, he sets his face in a carelessly nonchalant expression and deadpans, "Fire away."

So she tells him. About hom--Hollow Bastion. She trembles as she speaks and her nerves are like trip-wires, but she tells him, and when all is said and done Riku stands quietly, adjusting his tie. They have not gone home yet, not even halfway there. Sora is still at school with blitzball practice, so Kairi can be alone with Riku for a while.

She falls into the trap of adjusting her tie as well when Riku doesn't say anything for a while. Then he sighs. "Let's get home, Kairi. We'll talk about it there." Kairi quietly shuffles into place a bit behind him and to the side. It never gets this quiet with Sora around, and she always wonders why.

"It looks like you're going on an adventure of your own, little bit." Riku ruffles her hair playfully, but Kairi does not miss the guarded tone behind the action. The hair ruffle is what Riku does with Sora, not her. They are still in uniform, in fact they are even still holding their book bags, so today feels decidedly formal. Something is not lining up.

Kairi sighs.

"I don't hate you, Kairi."

"_What?_"

"It's just a little hard," Riku elaborates. "I don't have any adventures of my own to distract me from missing you like when Sora was in the glass pod. Unless you count doing homework every day an adventure..." Riku is pulling mere above average grades right now, but before... he used to be stellar. "In a way, though, I'm sort of relieved. Now we can have balance."

"What do you mean,_ balance?_ You Zen master, you."

He smiles. "I thought it was _weird._ You, the girl, not having any adventures besides waiting... it's downright misogynistic."

"_Oh..._ Right." The tension is broken apart. Only Riku can do this so... skillfully.

"I'm still going to miss you when you're gone."

He _knows._ Eyes suddenly brimming, Kairi throws her arms around his shoulders and holds. "I'm going to miss you, too."

"Eh..." He tries to make it seem like an afterthought, the way he allows his hands to rest at the small of her back. But the real reason is there, clear as day. He _knows._ Only Riku would know, and he can tell this entire world if he wants to because she wouldn't mind.

"Stay clean, Riku... Keep away from the darkness."

"And you--don't let _anyone_ put you in a corner."

"I--I'm going to miss you...!"

"Yeah. I know."

_-break-_

Kairi runs home and changes clothes quickly. Gulps a glass of water to compensate for the extra energy she's spending; then she knocks on her father's bedroom door. "Dad?" The mayor, Tellah, pokes his head out from behind his book, looking as wise and venerable as ever with his pince-nez spectacles and white, white hair.

"Kairi! Are you going out, sweetheart?"

"Yes... For a while."

He shrugs. "Well, all right then! As long as you don't do drugs or have unprotected sex, we'll have nothing to talk about."

Kairi shifts a little in the doorway, nervous. Then she walks over and gives her father a hug. "Bye, Dad."

"Hmm?" He squints over his spectacles at her. "Now what's with the sudden affection? Did you do something bad and not tell me?"

"Just... Bye, Dad. I'll see you later."

"Very well! Go off, now--I'll see you too."

When she was six, Mayor Tellah had seemed like the most frighteningly intelligent person she'd ever come across in this small world. And... Kairi still feels that way. Only she has seen more than one world now. So. She holds on a little tighter before letting go at last.

_-break-_

"Sora!"

"Kairi!" Sora looks around, bewildered, his hair still semi-wet from blitzball practice yet spiky as ever. "I thought you'd be at Riku's house by now..."

Kairi is starting to feel compressed from all the goodbyes she's been giving. She will have to be quick from now on or she will never, _ever_ work up the courage to leave this time. She runs across the last few sections of the block to give him a big hug, in compensation for the lack of explanation she'll give him. "Bye, Sora. See you." She then lets go, frantically feeling her way to the secret place, blinded by the rush of her own passing.

Sora is even more confused--she hears it in his voice, can practically see him looking hurt and reaching out a hand to stop her. "Wait--_wait!_ Kairi! Where are you going?"

_Home._

_-break-_

Defeated, Kairi slumps to her knees after getting to Hollow Bastion and stays that way, motionless in a great flat purple plain. It must have been gardens or something as the ground is _very_ plain. It feels tended, faintly--if there had been grass or topiary hedges they would have been immaculately clipped. But all she sees is smooth dirt right now, with no footprints anywhere.

_This is my adventure,_ she supposes, and doesn't feel like lifting a finger.

Boots crunch in the well-tended dirt after Kairi has remained still for a few moments. She looks up to see Leon, sword at the ready but still standing at ease, looking down with a hint of concern softening his eyes. "Are you all right?" he asks calmly.

"Yes..." Kairi nods and manages to lift herself up, brushing dirt away unconsciously. "I'm all right."

"Okay then." Leon reaches out with his free hand, the left, and turns her around as if to check for injuries. "You were very still and you had your weapon in hand... so I assumed you were hurt."

"It's just the way I get here." Kairi feels her keyblade vanish appropriately. Leon's silence as he starts walking to the entrance of Hollow Bastion makes her think that he noticed her honesty.

"You said Mickey brought you here." _Bingo._ Kairi nods. "Did you lie?"

Kairi thinks about it. "That was true the first time. But, I figured it out this time, and the last time. So I guess I don't need him to transport me here anymore."

"Why did you lie to Aerith?"

"I didn't want to look _special._ It's a key, which I use to open the door to this place. A big, ornamental, magical key which I just happen to have." She hopes that makes sense. And she also hopes... She hopes he doesn't hate her for avoiding the truth, like she did when she was here before.

_-to be continued-_


	2. Jude

* * *

**Eos, Part II**

_So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin__  
You're waiting for someone to perform with  
__And don't you know that it's just you, hey Jude, you'll do  
The movement you need is on your shoulder_

"Hey Jude" (The Beatles)

* * *

Leon walks through the halls in complete silence, neither looking at nor slowing down for Kairi. He is taking her in a direction she has not been through before--not towards the kitchen, or the library, or even the torture room. He walks until all Kairi remembers is putting one foot in front of the other, the sound of the soles of their shoes being worn down step by step. He walks until Kairi is sure this is a dream and the castle walls will never end, swallowing them up in a maze of emptiness so she will never get her memories back (and she was just fine with that before--_why is she not fine with it now?_); but then Leon opens a door.

"Aerith," he calls, into a sudden green place on the outside. Kairi blinks and shields her eyes with a wrist before seeing that it is a _garden_. A garden in the back corner of Hollow Bastion. Aerith turns around, from whatever she was doing to a bush with dark berries on it like thick drops of purple water.

"Yes, Leon? ...Kairi!"

Leon steps back and puts a gloved hand on her shoulder before pushing her quietly ahead. "I don't have time to keep an eye on her, or else I wouldn't be bothering you. Can you...?"

Aerith nods and beckons for Kairi to come closer. "All right. Come here, Kairi--you can help me weed." Kairi steps towards the bush, but as small a time as that takes she does not see Leon when she turns back. "Here," Aerith says, kneeling. Kairi follows suit. "Look for this... and this. Make sure to pull up everything--but if you can't I've got a spade you can use..."

Aerith's garden is a mishmash of healthy, useful, hardy things. Fruit trees and vines and vegetables, berry bushes too; but there is nothing horribly interesting--nothing like flowers. Although, when Kairi searches for plants like the weeds previously pointed out she notices a small pointy plant and directs Aerith to it.

"Aerith, what about this? I don't think it looks like a weed..." Weeds are somewhat less delicate than this one appears, trim and light. Aerith, intrigued, kneels down to spread out a thin leaf with her similarly slender fingers.

"Hmm... Well, it looks like--" Suddenly Aerith's face is transformed. Though her mouth does not turn up in a real _smile,_ there is a glitter to her green, green eyes at the sight of the new plant. Her normal pleasant expression is eclipsed by something... brighter. Like hope... "Don't pull it up yet, Kairi. I want to see what happens."

"Well, okay then..."

_-break-_

Kairi gingerly folds her fingers around a weed and pulls, but only the stem comes up, oozing faint green blood. She is distressed at the lack of roots and gives a disappointed, "Oh..."

"It's all right," Aerith tells her kindly. "Here. I'll dig it out and then I'll show you how to pull properly." The woman gives an expert jab into the soil and then moves to another weed several steps away. "Come on. Take a hold of this." Kairi wraps her hand obediently around that one--then Aerith puts a long, slim hand around hers. "Pay attention. _This_ is how hard you have to pull."

Firmly, but not quickly, Aerith shows surprising strength that goes straight through Kairi's timid grip and a large system of trailing roots follows the base of the stem. The healer brushes out several large clods of dirt, and then pats the soil flat. "There you go! Got it?"

"Yes, I think I have it."

Kairi wanders over to a likely-looking weed and then pulls. About half the roots follow; she sees the remainder like a net of thin bones in the ground. "It's tricky," Aerith remarks. "But it's all right. You'll get better with practice--go on. We'll stop in an hour or two." After a few tries, Kairi starts pulling them out with her left hand to balance, then alternates once she has the hang with both.

Then she stops mid-pull and realizes that Aerith expects her to stay.

_-break-_

"Well, that's it for today. Let's go inside and get cleaned up."

Kairi's knees are dirty and dry by the time Aerith stands up, sighing--the younger girl brushes herself off uneasily and asks, "Aerith?"

"Hmm?" Aerith is carefully neutral as she starts walking into the castle, presumably to change or get something to wipe the dirt and grass stains off her dress. But Kairi has other things in mind.

"I lied to you before. When I came for the second time... Th-that day, Mickey didn't bring me. I went by myself."

"Something told me you were skimming over that."

"Um... s-sorry."

"Well, you didn't really _lie;_ so don't worry." Aerith pulls a door open after a surprisingly short walk and takes out a small towel. "Here, use this..." She goes further into the--washroom, Kairi figures out after sneaking a glimpse through the door--and holds it under a faucet which is unproportionately ornate compared to the rest of the old castle. Then she gives the damp towel to Kairi, who takes it after a moment.

"Thank you."

"You'll need something to cover your knees if you keep doing this."

"Er... Aerith?" Kairi asks again, feeling childish. She rubs her knees completely free of dirt as Aerith cleans up her own pink sundress vigorously. It's not the one with the fluffy skirt, which Kairi sees hanging neatly on a hanger--this one seems older, has many more buttons, and is set in a simpler style with no white.

"Hang on, let me change--it'll only take a minute or two." Aerith grabs the one with the white skirt, which is visibly fresher-looking, and closes the door. Kairi stands up straight and waits. True to her word the older woman only takes a few minutes to change and comes out. "All right." She starts walking, presumably towards the kitchen for a drink. (Or maybe it is just Kairi being thirsty.) "What were you asking?"

Kairi wants to ask several things, like why Leon was out in front with his gunblade; what Cid does that was so very important last time; how Yuffie acts when she's not around people. But then... she has all the time in the world to ask those questions, so she asks instead, "Did you know that I came here to stay?"

Aerith pauses, then opens a door experimentally.

In it is a thickly furnished, though somewhat dusty bed. In fact there's a thin sheen of gray over everything, muting colors like skin mutes the veins in their bodies--green, white, orange veins, little details that lighten all the dark wood furniture and break up the solid white walls. After watching this, Kairi supposes that Aerith simply lacks the emotion of surprise. "This will be your room once we clear all the dust out. Or... would you rather do it yourself?"

Kairi peers more closely at the room and nods. "I think I can handle it alone."

_-break-_

That night, after an early dinner in which Aerith pulls out several large, cold sandwiches courtesy of Cid and they eat alone before everyone else, Kairi grabs hold of one side of the thick coverlet and shakes off all the dust. The windows are open and the lightest twitch of cooling wind sucks the dust out through the shutters. She still sneezes.

As she shakes out the pillows and her lungs clear, she watches the colors brighten and experiences the most curious feeling of release. The gray dust lifts out into the purple twilight sky and creates clouds with fantastic twisted shapes, in colors that remind her of the light lavender tones in Riku's hair or shine like Sora's hectic smile. Kairi goes to the window and rests her elbows on the sill, watching the dust disappear.

When the dust is so thin she can't distinguish it from the murky gray clouds in the sky, she returns to the room and starts dusting again, fine-tuning her methods. Kairi watches the colors slowly beat back into their brightness, every swipe of the clean dampened rag a new pulse, and wonders what Riku, Sora, Selphie and the rest are doing back on the Destiny Isles. When she is done, she wonders how her father is reacting to her absence.

She wonders, not for the first time, what color Anna's hair was. Anna, Kairi learned in snatches from other people who actually talked about it once in a while, was Tellah's daughter before something happened, an unspecified amount of time before the meteor shower. Whether it had something to do with Heartless is something she never felt brave enough to ask. After she is done wondering, Kairi sighs and pulls off her outer dress along with her shoes before covering herself with the blanket.

Kairi sneezes again, eyes watering. But she doesn't get up.

_-break-_

The very first night she goes to sleep at Hollow Bastion she has dreams. Nothing about a young man named Squall this time, or wandering through the hallways, but vivid, slurred images about her life back at the islands like her life is flashing past. She remembers the first time Sora spoke to her and the first time Riku smiled. She remembers Tellah and Selphie and Wakka and Tidus and everyone, everyone--she can't help but remember everyone, being homesick and clearly out of place in this sprawlingly empty world. As she dreams she keeps thinking about puzzles and the pieces that line up. Riku's silver metal one and Sora's blue sky etching.

She wonders how she ever managed to think this place would be _home_. She doesn't blend well here, in her pink-white-purple color scheme. Even her red hair is too _bright_ against Cid's ashy blonde, Leon's mane of layers, Aerith's brown twist, and especially Yuffie's matte black. An electric feeling of wrongness keeps pulsing through her veins, still attuned to a steady tide she left behind half a day ago. She does not feel like this has solved anything at all.

Kairi wants to go back. This place _used_ to be her home... but she is not so sure now.

_-break-_

She wakes up with the image of Squall in her head, along with the younger, smaller Kairi. It is distressingly early--the sun has not yet pierced the clouds and nobody is awake. So she slides into her shoes and goes down to the kitchen for a soothing glass of water, but abruptly runs into Leon on her way back.

"Kairi?" Leon asks.

Kairi looks down and realizes that she looks like a ghost in her underdress, something that never was. But she smiles bravely and answers him, "Yes. I was thirsty so I got a glass of water." She... she looks like a ghost and she is wearing her untied canvas shoes. She feels so _sloppy_ standing in front of Leon, who--she realizes all of a sudden--is wide awake, fully dressed, and looks faintly sweaty with his gunblade in hand. Sloppy... and _lazy_ is what she is. So. Horribly. Childish.

Then Leon shrugs and moves forward, skiving around to the side of her. "Well, just go back to sleep. There's nothing wrong..."

What _that_ means Kairi can only guess. She twists around to catch a glimpse of the red wings on the back of Leon's jacket. "Nothing wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just a habit. Go back to sleep."

Kairi takes a deep breath, shivers, and obeys--stumbling half-lost along the hallways like a shell of the person she was. She had spoken very calmly to Leon right now, but as she kicks off her sloppy untied shoes and pulls her blanket up to conceal her sloppy white dress she thinks about asking Aerith if she has something that would be less _glaring_ in the night. The way Yuffie dresses in her short shorts, she doesn't think she would like to see what Yuffie wears to sleep...

_-break-  
_

The next day, Aerith is nowhere to be found.

Kairi searches about a quarter of the castle before giving up--though admittedly, she has the distinct feeling she is just going in circles. The kitchens are quickly stricken off the list, as well as the library, and even the garden yields nothing in the way of the older woman. She doesn't know this castle or Aerith well enough to figure out where else she might be. However, she does find Yuffie throwing her shuriken around like a plaything in a big, unused ballroom and decides to bite the bullet.

"Oh--hey there, Kairi!" Yuffie drops her star with a clatter and smiles as Kairi enters, shoes making soft shuffling noises on the aged hardwood floor. "What's up?" They are pretty similar in build and anything short on Yuffie would probably (_probably_, Kairi hopes) be a few inches longer on herself. But upon hearing the question Yuffie leads her to a sparsely furnished bedroom and a closet full of oddly conservative knee-length beige slips.

"I know, huh? Well, I don't really think about what I wear to sleep--I just kind of throw something on and pass out, y'know? These actually came with the castle and I was super psyched because there are a _billion_ of these things--I never have to do laundry! But if you want pretty things, then go to Aerith. She's got the paper-thin lace nighties and junk."

"No, this is fine," Kairi assures her. She pulls five of them out of the closet and thanks Yuffie before traveling back to her room. She still doesn't come close to finding Aerith.

_-break-_

The next day Kairi is in the company of Aerith and Yuffie having a conversation about small things, like how to navigate the maze of Hollow Bastion and where, in an emergency, she might find everyone else. Some days she will find pretty much everyone at Merlin's house in the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee meetings; in fact both women decide to take her there that Thursday and introduce her to everyone, as well as initiate her into the group itself.

It is a good talk. Very prudent. But during this conversation all thoughts of exactly what prudent things Kairi was trying to say next go out the window as the ninja sneaks a sly glance at her. "So. Kairi."

"Yuffie, please," Aerith warns. But that could mean anything--which quite frankly alarms Kairi. Yuffie disregards the warning and even goes so far as to shoulder up to Kairi while continuing:

"What do you think about Leon?"

Kairi sputters for just a moment. Mostly because _she was not expecting that question_. But she regains her composure long enough to mumble something noncommital like "I haven't really gotten to know him all that well." Or possibly, "He is very, very independent and I respect that." Or maybe even, "Um, he's _hot._" Yuffie tilts her head in confusion and then bursts out laughing.

"Come _on!_ You can _say_ it! Age gap? Means nothing--hell, I'm nineteen and I say what I'm thinking straight to his face. Meanwhile Aerith here is the perfect non-jailbait twenty-five and she could be his twin sister for all the interest she shows in him. In fact, I think she _is_ his twin sister. Have you seen their _bangs?_"

The next sentence Kairi says in face of this evidence is mashed up into an unintelligible slur, like this: "ErrattractivekindofhelpAerithshouldwe_really_betalkingaboutthis?!"

"Yuffie, she isn't comfortable answering these types of questions," Aerith lectures. Which is not exactly true--Kairi was once asked to judge between Sora and Riku on who was best built to pull in the girls, and back then she had felt that she had done an admirable job. But concerning Leon: Yes, yes, it is _definitely_ a problem. She could start hugging Aerith and never let go, she feels so _gracious_.

But just as she is about to wrap her arms around the waist of the big sister she never had (or remembered), Kairi recalls that _personality_ is also a factor and she is definitely comfortable with that. "Well, actually, there is this one thing I've noticed..."

Yuffie leaps on it with a resounding "What!"

"Er..." Kairi thinks and then phrases her answer as carefully as possible so Yuffie will not get the _wrong idea_. She even turns a bit so she is facing neither of her fellow women before replying: "He sets the bar very... high... don't you think?"

The ninja blinks. "Do elaborate, young grasshopper--who I notice is _still_ evading my question."

"I feel incompetent around him." Kairi is thinking about Riku, who set the bar very high himself; but he, at least, had had the awareness to humble himself before people. Particularly after they came back. Kairi doesn't know if Leon has that ability or not, because even after a few days they are still as good as strangers. (Her homesickness has made her so lonely that talking to two older women instead of two young men around her age is distracting, though it is not an unpleasant change at all.)

Leon is not prideful, but neither does he set aside his expectations of himself.

"It's a little intimidating to see him walk into a room, or patrol the grounds, even when he says it's just a habit. He's--" At this point Yuffie starts shaking her head frantically and drawing one finger across her throat in a clear gesture to stop, with an expression of unadulterated terror. Kairi would have taken the hint if she had not seen a long shadow appear across the ground, and turned on her own accord to see the owner standing quietly with gunblade in hand.

"Intimidating, you say?" Leon asks. To her confusion (and Yuffie-grade horror), she is not experienced enough with Leon's voice to tell whether he is amused, or displeased, or simply seeking clarification. With Riku she could have figured it out... but even Aerith looks a little concerned. Kairi thinks, then steels herself and nods, hoping that both her actions and her words are neutrally confident. To do this she approximates Leon's tone.

"Intimidating, I say."

By now Yuffie has settled into her 'the shit has hit the fan and we might as well go down swinging' face. Though Aerith still looks a little nervous... After a moment of terrifyingly still contemplation, Leon shifts into an expression that could very well lean towards concerned, or a little bit hurt.

"Really? _I_ don't think of myself as intimidating at all..."

"Well, you wouldn't." Kairi refrains from using the word 'intimidating' once more, as they have already used up their quota for the next two weeks. But now talking to Leon is rather like talking to Riku and she actually feels somewhat comfortable now. "But _you_ aren't talking to someone a foot taller than you, who is also dressed nearly entirely in black leather and holds a huge sword ready at all times."

"Hm." Leon peers down at his gunblade with the fearsome lion's head engraving, and then lowers it slightly. "May I see _your_ weapon? The giant key?"

Kairi complies with this request, to Aerith and Yuffie's surprise.

"Whoa!" the ninja exclaims. Kairi doesn't know if Yuffie is being sarcastic or not when she continues, "I swear that is the coolest. Keyblade. Ever."

"Good. Now may I _hold_ it?" Kairi hands it over willingly. Leon hefts it slightly to test the weight, then hands it back after an expert evaluation. "You can stab and slash with that thing, right?"

"Right. And I think I can throw it, too..." Kairi has seen Riku pull off that dazzlingly complex-looking move during a squabble with Sora, after which Sora immediately called foul and insisted that he could do it, too.

"It's light enough to throw," the swordsman agrees. No one except Leon seems to know where this conversation is going. Aerith seems to be tracking Leon's train of thought quite admirably, but even she is a step too slow since she looks surprised when he says, "I can teach you, if you have nothing better to do; and if you are willing to learn. Just up to a certain point, of course. There is only so much I can do before I would have to give you my gunblade instead. But if you know the basics of my technique, then maybe you won't feel so intimidated."

He has certainly refined the art of covering much ground with only a few terse sentences. Even Riku would have thrown in a few quips like getting up at dawn, or attaining balance between yourself and the weapon. Well, maybe the last part would not have been a quip, because Riku has a strange fascination with balance. But then Kairi realizes Leon is waiting for her reply, and nods. "That's fine with me."

"Right." Leon shoulders his gunblade in a professional manner. "We begin at dawn tomorrow." Walk, walk, walking off into the sunset. Kairi is dismayed at the fact that he didn't seem to be _joking_, either.

"This is just like a movie!" Yuffie quips. "I bet he's going to make you do all sorts of menial, repetitive chores that are secretly some form of training technique and you won't know until you start fighting him! I know! I have seen teachers who do that sort of thing and it is _relentless! _The students always whine and complain until they get to fight, and then they--"

"_What_ did I get myself into?!"

_-break-_

Aerith wakes Kairi up while the stars are still blurry and presses a cup into her hands. "Here, Kairi--drink this." Kairi automatically starts to drink, too sleepy to take notice. Barely a sip goes down her throat before she coughs slightly, wide awake. _This is Aerith's tea_. As she splatters a few messy drops onto her bedspread, Aerith pats her on the back several times before taking the cup and stifling a yawn with her free hand, politely.

"Y-yes... It does seem to wake people up very effectively." The fifteen-year-old reflects on how exactly a tea could taste so sour, be so thin, and _still_ manage to linger in her mouth terrorizing her tastebuds for a full minute. "Did you choke? Oh, anyway, Leon shouldn't be here for another ten minutes--"

The door opens. Leon pokes his head in, and then shakes his head with a disappointed sigh. "_Aerith._"

"Just warming her up for you!" Aerith smiles as brightly as possible and sets the teacup down on Kairi's narrow bedside table. "She's all yours!" Leon notices the 'chink!' of porcelain hitting mahogany and frowns.

"Get dressed, Kairi. Then we'll go down to the kitchen and eat."

"I didn't know the great Leon consumed _food,_" the healer teases him, surprising Kairi with her quickness of mind at this hour.

"It would be disastrous for one to engage in any sort of prolonged physical activity without the necessary nutrients. And _what_ are you still doing here?"

Aerith rolls her eyes and pats Leon lightly on the shoulder as she goes out the doorway. "You're no fun in the morning."

Kairi is still reeling from the effects of Aerith's tea to notice the very familiar dynamic between Aerith and Leon--just like Sora and Riku, when the silver-haired boy was feeling irritable and tired and could thus be bested in words more easily than usual. She wonders if she will ever be able to stop being reminded of Sora and Riku, or at least if it will ever stop _hurting _when she is. She can't remember why finding her memories seemed like such a good idea.

"Three minutes," Leon informs Kairi, and closes the door behind him.

She is hopelessly confused for a moment before realizing that he meant she was to _dress_ in three minutes. So she drags herself out of bed, sluggish and groggy as the first wave of cold, non-body-heated air from outside her coverlet hits her, and pulls her clothes on without a word before pulling open the door and seeing Leon waiting patiently in the hallway.

"I'm sorry Aerith caught you off guard," the swordsman says calmly, about the tea. "But--"

"At least I'm awake," Kairi finishes with him, surprising them both.

She smiles; Leon looks neutral at best. But there is a smoothness to his usually clipped movements that Kairi just barely notices. She wonders if he had been expecting her to complain and whine endlessly about waking up early and having Aerith's awful tea for a morning pick-me-up. But truthfully, she doesn't mind getting up early--at least not after she's had a few minutes to get accustomed to the dimness of the sleeping world around them. And the quiet is soothing. Empty walls... empty halls...

Not even Aerith is in sight by now, having gone down her own mysterious corridor to sleep for a few more hours.

_-break-_

Leon flinches as Kairi's keyblade flashes into being, bright and startling in the big reflective ballroom Kairi remembers from a few days ago--the one Yuffie was training in. The slight step the swordsman makes along echoes along the high, smooth ceiling and wide walls, which are a faded golden color shot through with blue (former radiance is present here, at least). Then Leon stands up straight and nods.

"Right. Now, you will watch me. Hold it with both hands at an angle, and stand with your feet a little wider apart than your hips. Like me--" Leon takes his gunblade and falls easily into position, for a moment becoming almost approachable as his height diminishes. Then he looks over his shoulder at Kairi, and she hurriedly assumes the pose, feeling no different than before. "There. Keep your weight even on both feet, and look up." (Kairi brings her eyes up and away from her keyblade, which suddenly looks flimsy.) "Good. Now lunge forward with your right foot for a basic attack…"

This common thread is being spun from their minds and the moves that they make; while Kairi will probably _never_ make fighting look as easy as Leon does, but knowing that he probably started out with these drills gives her a sense of… recognition, or familiarity, or something like it.

_-break-_

After a few hours in which the sun rises, Leon gives her his approval to leave and Kairi gladly takes it. She is sweaty and tired and infinitely sore; her muscles are hanging off her bones like limp jellyfish floating aimlessly after being tossed around in typhoons. A quick look over her shoulder reveals Leon returning to his drills, but much more complicated ones than the ones he had just taught her.

Kairi watches for a second as the silver blade flashes and blurs; then Leon performs an odd decisive jerk that sends the blade swinging up to reveal an open barrel. Cartridges spinning, he goes through all the motions of following through with that technique--except for pulling the trigger itself--before returning the gunblade to its usual sword-like state and slashing through his imaginary opponent _at the same time_.

To Kairi's knowledge, men are not usually graceful. They either do not have the opportunity to show it, or they simply move without paying attention. But Leon pays an awful lot of attention to his movements, and she suddenly understands. One wrong move could send the blade cutting across his own face. Kairi wonders, for a moment at least, if that was how he got his scar.

Then she rejects it, because she can't imagine Leon ever being that clumsy.

_-break-_

"Now, this drill is mostly blocking on your part, but it will help build up your strength. _Don't anticipate._" Kairi has just moved into the blocking position. She nods wearily and stands in the ready and waiting form. "You have to learn to block from any angle at any time. I'll start from the obvious ones, but after those are through I won't go back to them. Do you understand?"

Yes, Kairi very much understands. Even though she is about to fall asleep on her feet.

"Learn to switch from block to ready as well as vice versa. Keeping your weapon perpetually in blocking position will not help you unless you have enough endurance to last out your opponent while he wears himself out. I don't believe you have that, so…"

The words seep into the surface of her skull and then fade out. Kairi did _not_ know Leon was capable of talking so much, but here he is giving her daily lectures on fighting while she can barely put in a word edgewise. She supposes Leon knows a lot about fighting, so it does make some sense that he would--

"Twelve o'clock."

"Ack!" Kairi blocks sloppily as Leon comes at her from the front. He shows his disapproval by frowning.

"I'd also like to be able to warn you about enemies in as few words as possible." How ironic. "I will try again. Twelve o'clock." Kairi blocks in a much better fashion this time, but her keyblade only holds for a second before being pushed back and her defense is totally decimated. So _this_ is what Leon meant by building up her strength.

"Three." Kairi thinks frantically about which side to face before blocking Leon's advance from the right. Barely. "Remember to go _back_ to ready position!"

So. Many. Words.

_-break-_

"Hey there--Mick!" Yuffie's voice startles them, coming from the hall right in front of the door. Kairi mourns the sudden stop as she has just gotten the hang of things; but she is admittedly curious as to what the King is doing here, so she allows her keyblade to vanish just as the door opens. "Er, can I just give 'em a warning before you go in all angry-like, man?"

"Kairi? I'd like to talk to you." Mickey has lost his grin as he strides ahead of Yuffie and completely ignores Leon. The swordsman, once more silent, gains a curious look on his face while Kairi hesitates, feeling like she's… for lack of better phrasing, _in trouble_. And judging from the lack of room in the king's thinly veiled order, she probably is. So she nods nervously and follows the king out, to Yuffie's blatant questions and Leon's more pointed stare.

_-break-_

Kairi closes the ballroom door and turns to Mickey instantly. "I'm sorry, your Highness. I'm horribly sorry! If I did something wrong when I came here and unleashed the darkness on a thousand other worlds, then I promise I will rescue each and every one of them! Only… don't--"

"What?" Mickey asks her incredulously. Kairi falls silent at once. "Oh, I'm not mad at you about _that_. As long as you closed the door on your way out…" Kairi remembers the huge door she had to close all by herself and grimaces. "No. I'm talking about your friends and family, Kairi. I've just gotten a message from Riku and Sora--well, mostly Sora--who are freaking out over the fact that you've been gone for three weeks and they don't know why."

"Oh…" Kairi thinks for a moment about asking why Riku hasn't told anyone, then decides it would be unfair to simply place the blame on him. Though she still feels terrible, she does feel remarkably _clean_ as the king continues.

"Why did you come back _here,_ anyway? The castle's no good, and it's _empty_. Most of the other people are beyond the gardens in Eos, or what's left of it. Too many things happened here a long time ago."

"Well…" Kairi fiddles with a lock of her fire-red hair for however much time she can buy with it. The king gives her a long, solid look, and then she answers a little down-heartedly: "I thought I could find my memories back here, your Highness."

"Mickey," he corrects her, but there is a note of understanding in his voice. They begin strolling along the empty hall.

"I mean, I was really happy back at the Destiny Islands; but I've always wanted to _know_…"

"Aww, shucks. I can't blame you for that." The king smiles a little, much less stern than he looked even a few minutes ago. "But why didn't you tell anyone? I'm sure they would have understood."

"They… would have wanted to come with me." Kairi suddenly realizes she's been acting a lot more secretive than usual for herself. "This isn't like saving my friends or the world, or even a hundred worlds. I don't think people can look for themselves or what comprised a large part of them and have their friends tag along, no matter how much more enjoyable it would be. I… I really think I have to do this alone, because Sora would be worried about me, and Riku would give me his complicated thoughts on the matter. It would be so weird to look at them after finding out everything. I wouldn't be me--I'd change in front of them and they'd change in front of me and we wouldn't be _us_ anymore."

"Hmm…" Mickey rubs his chin in an utterly thoughtful expression. "That reminds me a lot of Riku, actually. Always insisting he can go it alone…"

"_Promise_ you won't send my friends after me?"

"Ah... Sure! Why not?" He reaches out to shake her hand on it and Kairi complies, still a little nervous but smiling. "It can't hurt this once to let you go it alone. But--" and he looks at her pointedly this time. "I have to tell them _something._ Do you mind if I tell them the truth?"

"Not at all," Kairi answers, almost giddy with relief. "But I'd like you to ask Riku why he's being so secretive."

Mickey tilts his head somewhat. "Why? You haven't seen Riku for the past few weeks. Not to mention he's _always_ got a few secrets hiding around." Kairi had forgotten about Riku being good friends with Mickey. That makes it a little easier.

"He'll know why. Could you just… ask him?"

"Well, all right..." Mickey turns to leave, apparently comfortable traversing the large maze of castle hallways, before Leon strides into view from around the corner, fuming... but about _what_ Kairi can only--

"_King!_" the swordsman thunders accusingly, startling them with both his sudden anger and his knowledge of Mickey's royalty. He stops in front of the king, who frowns and holds firm even as Kairi takes a couple steps back. "You are the king! Why didn't you tell me you were here?" Something shatters faintly in the distance, adding to the atmosphere; and at the same time something looks... different about Mickey.

"_Nuts_." Mickey looks around as if to survey any possible damage. But there is nothing around here that could have _shattered_... "You just broke it."

"'_Broke_ it?'" Leon repeats. "Broke… _what?_"

"My spell, that's what!" Both Kairi and Leon give him confused stares. The king sighs as he begins explaining, "I've visited Eos a few times lately, to see how everything's going. They don't much care for castles or kings over there, considering all the things that happened, so I decided to keep a low profile with one of Minnie's custom cloaking spells. Gosh, you're _sharp!_ That was the strongest glamor Minnie could cast without messing up everyone's heads, and we even cast it so only someone who called me 'King' would break it. I picked the right guy to find the Wielder."

"King?" Kairi struggles. This explains _so much_ all of a sudden. Although now Kairi wants to know what Eos is, and what Leon had to do with finding the Wielder (who is probably Sora).

"Well, 'Your Highness' was _definitely_ too obvious."

"Oh."

"Oh..." The swordsman seems a little subdued by the fact that he's foiled the well laid-out plans of a higher authority who had been well within his rights to get extremely angry instead of giving a compliment. "I... apologize, your Highness. I thought..." Kairi notices the note of remorseful respect in his voice. "Will you still be able to move around here?"

"I don't know… I guess I'll just ask Minnie to cast it again, before someone else puts things together. Can't take any chances with townspeople--they've got pitchforks and torches in reserve. See you!" Mickey waves, shoots them both a grin and races off with keyblade in hand, leaving Kairi perplexed and Leon quite solemn before they head back to the ballroom to check up on Yuffie.

_-break-_

"Ack! Archie, _quit it!_ Ow!!" Yuffie's shrieks echo harshly in the ballroom as Leon and Kairi approach. They look in to observe a big brown flash flapping around her head; the ninja is trying desperately to fend off the attacks and her shuriken is no longer in her hand. "Leon! Make him _stop! _He listens to you!"

Leon sighs and holds his arm out. "Archimedes."

"Ah, Leon!" An accented, rather pompous voice sounds, and the brown blur suddenly detaches itself from Yuffie to settle on the swordsman's gloved hand. It is a rather large but otherwise average-looking barn owl, and Kairi is surprised to see him open his beak and talk. "_Finally_, a sensible mind! I see you are late as well, young master. May I ask why?"

"Late?" Leon questions. Then his eyebrows tilt down in their usual manner. "Oh. It's Thursday."

"See, Archie?" Yuffie snags her shuriken with two fingers and shoulders it in a surprisingly expert manner. "I told you Leon was late, too!"

"Don't call him _Archie._"

Leon turns without a second glance; the click of his shoes reverberate on the polished floor. As he passes Kairi, Archimedes sees her and cranes his neck nearly all the way around to keep her in view. It is an uncanny sight--Kairi's neck tingles when she starts thinking about what would happen if she attempted to do the same thing. "And who is this?"

"That is Kairi," the swordsman answers smoothly. "Kairi, this is Archimedes."

"Pleased to meet you," both the owl and the redhead say at once.

"I regret that I do not recall you from previous meetings, if you have been to any," Archimedes says, as proper as any old gentleman. "But unfortunately I am nocturnal, and you appear to be a quiet young lady, so that cannot be helped."

"That's all right. I don't remember you either--and it's probably because of the same reason."

_-break-_

Sometimes it was beautiful: the Destiny Islands. Especially on clear, sunny days (which was nearly every day); days when the tide was high and everything was bold, full-colored, and bursting with life. Those were the days Kairi felt full of life, too, absorbing energy from the sand and the water beneath her feet, the sight of the gulls wheeling lazily overhead, the sounds of everything mingling together to create harmonious background noise. Everything...

But sometimes it was not beautiful. Nearly a year after she'd arrived, Kairi remembers a topical storm that shook her bones and turned all the bright, cheerful yellow into gnashing gray, when rain frothed the sea to black and white. There was thunder in those storms, loud and dangerous and so close she could feel it in her teeth. She remembers being absolutely terrified of this and just wanted the whole thing to be over.

Of course it was over in an instant; the very next day sunlight streamed across palm branches strewn across the mangled sand. And the tide on those days came in slowly but surely to smooth things over and carry away the big mess that had been created. But ever since then, she'd hated storms.

Merlin uses his magic to water Aerith's garden. It is partly an act of good-will, and sounds innocent enough from his quick reminder at the end of the meeting that Kairi, Yuffie, and Leon were all late to come to. The rest of it is part of the restoration; but mostly it is for Aerith since it is contained to the castle and a slice of beyond. "Cover up for the next few days if you plan to go outside," are the wizard's exact words, which Kairi admittedly does not pay attention to until he goes on: "It's going to rain."

Kairi is terrified then, and continues to be even after she changes into her borrowed beige nightdress and tries to go to sleep. Destiny Islands' storms were fierce like packs of wolves and wreaked absolute havoc; no one could go outside and sometimes they couldn't even turn on the lights. She takes a look at the quiet, dingy sky through her window, recounts how dim Hollow Bastion's lights are even at the height of the day, and shudders at the thought of pitch-black thunder and lightning-laced nights. She sleeps badly that night, and performs even more horribly during Leon's lesson as a result of it.

He doesn't ask why, but she can tell he is very disappointed.

_-break-_

Kairi waits and waits, the next two days staying locked securely in her room except for meals and lessons. There is energy collecting in the air, and she isn't sure whether it's just her nerves or if she, as a Princess of Heart, can legitimately sense the weather--which is admittedly stretching it, as she couldn't sense changes in the weather with any degree of accuracy back in the Islands. It gets to the point where even Cid asks her why she's acting "all edgy, just like that Cloud", who she presumes (after a moment of confusion) is a low-profile inhabitant of Hollow Bastion. She mumbles something about not feeling well and is promptly directed to Aerith.

"You're scared of something," Aerith tells her when Cid is out of earshot pretending he is really a gruff old man who really doesn't care about other people's well-being. "What is it?"

"_He said it was going to rain._" Kairi's voice comes out as a thin, timid string of words that are swallowed up quickly in the resulting silence of Aerith's green-eyed gaze. Then the healer smiles in a comforting manner and takes Kairi's wrist.

"Come on--let's go down to the garden."

It is not raining yet, so Kairi has no choice but to follow Aerith through the twists and turns. The light is getting rather more gray; torches are being lit early. Aerith waves to Leon upon seeing him in the middle of lighting one, and he nods distractedly while he pinches out a match with two long fingers. Although, he does look curious when he catches sight of the troubled-looking Kairi herself. "Are you taking her _outside?_ It's going to start raining any minute now."

"We won't be long--don't worry." Almost too easily, Kairi finds herself standing in the dim, subdued gardens under the darkening sky. Smudges of rainclouds, thick and heavy, crowd together over the castle as Aerith stands under an apple tree and waits. It's quiet. Extremely quiet. So quiet that Kairi gets edgy and jumps when Aerith says brightly, "Any second now."

Kairi sits down and props her back against the tree, knees curling up in a defensive gesture. (She remembers the thunder and lightning.) Aerith's hair nearly disappears, it is so dull now, and the pink and white dress is like watered-down paint on gray paper. Gray and gray and more gray, penetrating their very skin...

And then the first few drops fall in front of Kairi's eyes.

So she watches, perturbed yet fascinated as lines of lighter gray begin tracing down to the ground. This rain falls slowly at first and then a steady thrumming sound fills the air as it hits the leaves on the trees and makes smaller plants shake a bit. But just that. There is no sign of the hurricane-force winds that felled trees in the Destiny Islands, no danger; this is too--dare she even _think_ about it--_gentle_.

The apple tree does not shield them for long and when Kairi stands up whatever remained of her that was dry is dampened quickly. She wipes her face, which is cold as well as wet, and attemps to comb her wet hair away with her fingers as Aerith places a concerned hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"It never just _rained_ in the Destiny Islands," Kairi answers, voice shaking a little. Warmer wetness blends into the chilly water splashing down on her face. "It was loud and messy and middling dangerous and cold--we could _never_ go outside."

"Well, in this world you can!" Aerith tells her, smiling through the dark brown tendrils of hair that are plastered to her face and jaw. "But, you know... it doesn't mean you _have_ to." Kairi takes the hint and nods, still shaking a little. Then she and Aerith dart back inside, slamming the door quickly behind them and leaning on it breathlessly. "Whew! There now, that wasn't so bad. Was it?"

Kairi feels so much better she can smile a little. "You know, it actually _wasn't_."

"I, however, look _terrible._" Aerith swipes at her deflated bangs fruitlessly for a moment, then sighs and flips her twist over her shoulder to begin dismantling her intricate hairstyle. "There's no way I'm going to let my hair dry this way. Kairi, change into something dry before you get sick. Or, well, you could come with me to Merlin's and beg him to cast Fire on us so we dry quickly..."

"Um..." Kairi observes a strand of her own wet hair before asking curiously, "Aerith? How long does your hair take to dry without magic?"

"_Far_ too long," Aerith answers. Her hair is very long out of its twist and nearly goes down to her knees while her bangs are practically shoulder-length. Unstyled, it looks almost... _clumsy._ When Kairi stifles a giggle, Aerith stops and half-turns, showing a bit of a smile before continuing. "Are you coming with me or not?"

_-break-_

That night, Kairi lays awake listening to the soft swishing sounds of the rain against her windows, which goes on and on until suddenly she hears Leon's knock on the door and realizes she has slept the night through. "Three minutes," comes the swordsman's voice, muffled by several layers of wood. Kairi dresses and takes a moment to look out the window. The sky is clean; a clear, almost-blue color reflects onto the barren purple plain, lightening it somewhat.

_This isn't what happens back home,_ Kairi thinks. Everything is smooth and dry and untouched, for miles outside her window. _Nothing's... wrong?_

"Kairi."

She finishes tying her shoe and opens the door. "I'm ready."

_-to be continued-_


	3. Champagne

**Eos, Part III**

_Wake up the dawn and ask her why__  
A dreamer dreams she never dies  
__Wipe that tear away now from your eye__  
Slowly walking down the hall  
Faster than a cannon ball_

"Champagne Supernova" (Oasis)

_-break-_

The elusive Cloud appears one day, to the shock and awe of Kairi. (She had been expecting something red, but instead he wears navy blue and black. Cold colors.) The blond--with a hairstyle curiously similar to Sora's--carries himself politely enough around everyone, but barely says two words until he takes a look at Kairi and asks, "Who's this?" At which Aerith smiles and places her fingers on Kairi's shoulder for a sisterly squeeze.

"Kairi, this is Cloud. Cloud, Kairi."

"Hi, Cloud," Kairi greets him, bolstered by the gardener's presence. Cloud gives a distant nod, then waves slightly to Leon, Yuffie, and Cid before walking down the hallway to... his little-used room, probably. She notices an air of bone-tiredness around his dark-clad figure, so instead of feeling ignored she only feels slight disappointment. Until she looks around to realize they're all watching Cloud slump and slouch with every step he takes out of the common room.

Not only that, he does not give even a second glance to his friends, and when he finally disappears everyone gives various sighs of exasperation. Cid's and Yuffie's have a clear sense of irritation about them, Leon's tone is more resigned, and Aerith seems faintly depressed. Kairi decides that she has a right to know what's happening and asks (rather tentatively), "Is something wrong?"

"Well, no," Yuffie starts. "Unless you count Cloud Cuckoolander coming back after days--scratch that, _weeks_--without changing _one bit_."

Leon makes a move as if to stop the ninja from spilling the beans, then shrugs and pulls back at the last moment. "Go ask around, if you like. We... we don't like talking about it."

"_You and Aerith_ don't like talking about it," Cid shoves in. He can be every bit as pushy as Yuffie when he wants to be, despite the fact that he keeps saying he hates the way she talks to people. "Girl's got to know what happened. And I don't trust Yuffie's version--she was too young back then to keep things straight."

"Nine-year-olds can keep things _straight!_" Yuffie protests. "My memory's as straight as a _poker,_ old man--!"

"Just _go,_" Leon orders. He never really yells _or_ whispers, and at best his voice has a limited range; but he instinctively knows which words to emphasize. Kairi notices that in her lessons. When he talks about something he thinks is boring (like reminding her about posture), he has a flat monotone; but when he is talking about something somewhat dangerous (like a technique Kairi has never used before) he is adamant about explaining everything and Kairi listens.

Meanwhile Aerith looks suspiciously tearful. She retires to her room as Yuffie and Cid herd Kairi to the kitchen; Leon's status remains unknown, but Kairi decides that he probably wouldn't just stay there alone in the empty common room. Or maybe he would, if he had something worthwhile to do.

_-break-_

"Sit," Cid grumps. Kairi promptly takes a seat at the table while the former pilot takes a chair for himself. Yuffie plunks her shuriken into a lean against the table leg before swivelling a chair around and sitting on it backwards. "Now ask me a question. And don't mouth off about how I'm trying to control you--that's just how I roll, and if you want any information about Mr. Angsty Angst you will do what I say."

"Coot," comes a mutter from Yuffie's side of the table. Cid scowls but does not comment as Kairi thinks about her question.

Finally she settles on, "Why don't we ever see Cloud?"

"_Good_ question. You should win a prize." Cid ruminates for a moment. While he's doing so, Yuffie rolls her eyes and gets up, opening the green and gold china teapot so she can check if it's empty or not. It is apparently not full enough, as she holds it under a running faucet for a moment before setting it onto the stove so it will boil. "He's looking for something."

"For what?"

"Tifa!" Yuffie bursts out from the counter, as if it was a game. She retorts at once to Cid's unspoken reprimand. "Well, that's what he's looking for, isn't it? Tifa! You know, all that time he spent going--"

"Ninja, _I_ am answering her questions here--so shut up and drink your goddamn _tea._"

"You cursed in front of Kairi, and it's _not ready yet!_" The aforementioned ninja gestures violently towards the teapot, still sitting on the heated stove without a hint of steam. Kairi refrains from pointing out that she's only four years younger than Yuffie, while at the same time mentally contrasting the people in front of her with Leon and Aerith. They're complete opposites right down to their hair color, Cid and Yuffie, with so much arguing between them that she wonders how they get anything done.

"Who's Tifa?" Kairi asks, in an attempt to keep the peace and satisfy her curiosity at the same time. Yuffie takes a deep breath, then lifts the lid on the teapot instead of speaking--though she does grumble a little about Cid's meanness. Yuffie is better at making tea than Aerith is, as strange as it seems. It's just that Aerith tends to have more time on her hands, not being the only one of two weapon-wielders in Hollow Bastion. Well, three, technically, but Kairi doesn't know if she herself counts yet.

"All right, _Tifa._" Cid brings up one of his hands to bring out the toothpick he perpetually chews, and after a quick inspection he tosses it into the trash can by the sink. Yuffie skitters to avoid it, though it actually lands smack in the center without a single bounce against the rim.

"Watch where you're _throwing_ that! Don't you know people get _mono_ from touching those things?!"

The pilot waves it off, irritated, as he searches for another. "Ah, I don't have mono. Keep calm." Cid digs in his pockets and after a moment he comes up with the second toothpick, biting down on it securely and grumbling as he does. "Stupid... This wouldn't have been a _problem_ if Leon had just left me _alone_."

"_He_ said his lungs felt rusty," Yuffie backhands. Kairi is surprised, and as if to answer this the ninja continues: "Well, he said _Aerith_ didn't like it, but we all know that whenever Leon says something bothers Aerith it really bothers _him._ And conversely, whenever 'Leon would _not_ approve!'" she signals air-quotes with two fingers since one hand is checking the kettle. "It means _Aerith_ doesn't. Liars."

Upon hearing this, Kairi feels distinctly out of the loop. "_Liars?_" she repeats, as incredulous as she's ever been in her relatively short life. "But, Aerith and Leon aren't..." Pointed glances from the two of her companions stiffen her jaw and she closes it. Though, since she feels a sense of moral outrage at the same time she also fixes her face in a stubborn frown. Yuffie waves it off and hops onto the counter, swinging her legs while Cid squints at Kairi and makes her feel nervous.

"You're young," he tells her. "You look up to those two--and Eos knows you _should!_ Keeps another nosy teenager out of my hair!" With the toothpick wedged firmly between his teeth for the moment, the pilot gives a messy swipe at his hair and ignores Yuffie's 'hmph' of indignance. "But really, they do _lie_. Less than Yuffie and me for sure... and _maybe_ less than Cloud, if what I'm thinking is true. Your perfect big brother and sister figures--well, they're _not_ perfect_._ Never were. Never will be. Just watch them and you'll see. I know for a fact that they were both as young and clumsy and stupid as you feel deep down inside when you look at them, so don't let _anything_ convince you otherwise. Just try to be your own damn self."

"And, you know," Yuffie adds, probably noticing how exposed and vulnerable Kairi feels upon hearing her innermost feelings deconstructed for everyone to see, "I didn't _really_ mean they were liars. I was just being snarky, y'know. Don't _you_ ever rib your best friends? Just for fun?"

"No!" Kairi answers, a little more irritably than usual. "And if I do, it isn't behind their _backs_."

Yuffie blinks. Then she shakes her head, apparently nonplussed at the jab towards her moral integrity. "Okay. You've been spending _way_ too much time with those two."

"Need to get you out of this place before your hair turns _brown._" Cid glares at the offending redness that frames Kairi's face as if it is already dulling at the roots, then takes a deep breath and exhales slowly; it takes a moment for her to remember he's holding a toothpick and not a cigarette in his mouth. "So where were we about Cloud?"

"Crazy and looking for Tifa," Yuffie answers easily. "Going to give me some stick about that, Cid? Should I not have answered?"

"Nah, that's right. Pretty much." The pilot leans his chair back on an invisible wall, half-attempting to smoke his dummy cigarette before remembering too. As she realizes the tension is suddenly gone, Kairi also realizes that she has forgotten about Cloud in all the side-tracks the conversation has taken. She backtracks valiantly, then gives up when Cid decides, "I'll tell you about Tifa first. You need to know about her to understand what comes later."

And it looks like Cid's starting on another tangent again. Kairi makes herself comfortable as Yuffie lifts the lid of the teapot again and prepares the matching teacups, dropping a half-handful of leaves into each one with a cheerful attention to detail that strangely enough reminds Kairi of Aerith.

_-break-_

"She was a pretty good girl. I think she lived in Verdurity before she came here--freaking _small_ town. It didn't even reappear, so people just built a new town where it used to be. Maybe that's where Cloud went, and maybe that's why he went bonkers. I don't know, and I don't want to. So Tifa was best friends with Aerith since they got here about the same time and were basically the lowest of the low. Tifa washed other people's dishes in the kitchens, and Aerith was just another draftee of the Groundskeeper's (well, Ansem's) in the battle against weeds. But they got comfortable later when people realized they were actually good at things besides that. Aerith started learning healing from Rosa and Merlin in her off-time, and _Tifa_... well, Ansem had a biscuit of hers and she was set."

Yuffie sighs fondly. "Tifa made the best biscuits _ever_. She always said that they came out so good because she checked every five minutes to make sure they didn't burn, but everyone knew she secretly meant it was love. Mine were star-shaped." Kairi looks at Yuffie's weapon in shock, vaguely star-shaped and dangerous. It isn't the shuriken she's thinking about, but the quick comment about stars has brought something to mind: a phrase no one ever mentioned to her in Destiny Islands. _Go and catch a falling star--_

"She liked Cloud," Cid goes on, ignoring Yuffie's aside. "He grew up with her. Think he was a delivery boy or something, so he always had excuses to swing by on the way. Tifa was always talking about him up till the point when he actually visited, and then she got nervous--"

"And she was _never_ nervous!" Yuffie interjected. "I have seen that woman swirl through the kitchen at top speed preparing eighty-seven dishes for a formal dinner and not one of them was burnt or raw even though she didn't accept my help, so I find it hard to believe she could get nervous about talking to a friend for the first time in... _ages._"

"Everyone guessed they were pretty sick puppies over each other."

"I..." Kairi rests her chin on the back of her hand, drawing lines between pieces of the puzzle. Crazy Cloud, no sign of Tifa, Aerith's sudden depression... It is a picture that is unsettling at best. "Oh, I think I know what's going to happen next... and I don't think it's going to be very _nice..._"

"Don't we all?" Yuffie asks. The kettle gives a forlorn whistle and she pours out some subtly steaming tea for the whole table. "Drink up, me hearties! Maybe once Kairi joins the ranks of the castle defenders I'll be able to make tea more often."

"Yes, it's _sad._" Cid swirls his tea as if to check the amber liquid for flecks of leaf. "But that's just the way things happened. Nine years ago, or... ten, I'm not sure... Tifa got a summons from Ansem to his lab. This meant he'd remembered to eat, so we weren't worried. But Cloud was there, and he started acting pissy for no reason until Aerith told him to just spit it out (not her words). He didn't live here, so he didn't know it was normal by then, and when he answered Aerith said--in her words--'She's going to be fine.'"

There is a long pause. Yuffie putters around, straightening out the corner of the kitchen she'd used to make drinks while Kairi stares into her teacup feeling edgy. The castle seems dimmer and stranger than ever, especially when Kairi hears an echo of 'She's going to be fine' in Aerith's voice, and not one word is something the gardener wouldn't say in an attempt to calm someone down.

_I understand what Yuffie said about the lying thing now..._

"She wasn't," Cid says, in his usual gruff tone. "Of _course_ she wasn't! Cloud followed her down, that crazy bastard, and whatever he did it wasn't enough because when he found her and brought her out, she wouldn't wake up. Weird things started happening then. Nobody walked around at night, not even me--not alone. That was when Aerith made friends with Leon, or so I'm told. I don't know, I was up in the air a lot by then."

Yuffie rolls her eyes. "She bullied him into being her bodyguard. He was the number one cadet, wouldn't say no to a woman, and really handsome to boot. It was weird, though--at first she made a lot of excuses to grab his hand, and then she just stopped all of a sudden. Said she _grew up_."

"Okay, no more stalling," Cid retorts. "Even though it is kind of funny how neither of them admits that they look too much like each other to be comfortable with any romance."

"They're not related," Kairi points out. "Leon told me so."

"Well, Leon honestly believes that not growing up together and having different last names makes people unrelated entirely," Yuffie replies with a grin. "Not to mention he is frigid as the Rising Falls in winter, so it doesn't matter anyway. Ask Aerith. See how she dances around and tries to forget she _did_ like him once."

Cid reminds the ninja: "Stalling."

"Right." They all take a moment to remember where they were in the story, then Cid continues.

"The weird thing was, it was empty. The lab. Ansem wasn't there, and neither were his apprentices, and the guards stationed in that hallway were relieved and never replaced. So maybe Tifa'd missed him and knocked into something, I guess. Aerith felt pretty damn bad about it, especially when it was a week and Tifa still wouldn't wake up. Then Aerith and Leon said they'd found this little girl wandering around after dark, and they led her home but they never found out her name--"

"What?" Something twinges in Kairi's brain.

"Yeah, and she was conveniently wandering right by Ansem's lab," Cid adds. "They decided to go and investigate it, but they needed a really good excuse since nobody in their right mind would want to go there. One day they offered to look after Yuffie and let her wander around--"

Two quiet steps at the door draw everyone's attention to Leon, looking tired and forlorn. He watches their expressions. Kairi swirls her nearly empty cup of tea, feeling a headache coming on. Then the swordsman informs them, "That's not what happened."

Cid gestures to the empty seat at Kairi's right. "So go finish it for me. Anyway, it's time for my cigarette break." Leon shrugs and sits in the chair, after which Kairi decides she must be more tired than she thought: there's a buzzing sound at the edge of her hearing that will not go away, like the ringing people hear when it's too quiet.

"What happened?" Kairi asks, in an attempt to distract herself from the sound. "Leon?" Leon doesn't look at her directly as he answers; he leans forward so his elbows are on the table and starts talking in the direction of Cid's retreating form.

"The second time, Aerith asked me if there were any shortcuts to the Infirmary because she had a headache and she'd run out of medicine for herself. I knew the last part wasn't true, so I took her through the hallway around Ansem's lab again and she didn't protest like she had before. Then we saw someone running and for a second we thought it was Yuffie..."

Kairi presses her hand to her temples for a moment. Her head suddenly has a layer of thick stuffing padded around it which isolates the buzzing sound and muffles the voices of everyone around her.

"--right," Yuffie breaks through momentarily. "Like _I'd_... that creepy lab."

_"Yuffie!"_

"Are... sure? Because I..."

_"It's not..."_

"It wasn't..."

_"We can't... alone like that."_

"...kept trying to tell her but--"

With a final shake of her head, Kairi successfully manages to bring herself back to reality. The buzzing stops altogether, and the voices of Yuffie and Leon are perfectly clear to her. For now. At least, Yuffie don't sound so strange or far away when she asks, "Not a thing?"

Leon shakes his head. "No. We had a bad feeling about that, but we couldn't... We just took her to the quarters she said she lived in before. _That's_ what happened--you think we could have done that if she couldn't remember the first time?"

"Ah, go easy on Cid! He was up in the air. He admits it."

"_Yeah,_" Leon says, exasperated. "At least some of us could..." He lifts the silver lion pendant off his chest and observes it for a moment before letting it go with a sigh. "I'm in the training room if you need me. And... one of you, at least, go talk to Aerith. She wouldn't let me in."

_-break-_

Yuffie heaves an enormous sigh as they trek out into the hallway and shoulders her shuriken. Slumped over like that as she walks, she looks almost forlorn. "This is depressing," the ninja announces. Kairi doesn't know quite what to say, and the feeling continues when Yuffie goes on, "This is seriously depressing--like, the complete opposite of the bee's knees. We should go to Eos sometime, kid."

That tears it. "I'm only four years younger than you, Yuffie."

"I _know_ you're only four years younger than me, Kairi," is the reply. "But tell me--can you imagine being nineteen?"

"_Yes._" A long, perfectly calm look from Yuffie slows Kairi down quite a bit, and also brings up a nervous feeling--maybe she'd spoken too fast. Yuffie's questions always seem so _easy _at first. Finally Kairi admits, "Well, no, actually. I can't imagine being nineteen."

"You think I'm _old_," Yuffie says, her grin huge as ever and ready to separate her chin from the rest of her face. Kairi shakes her head, hard, and tries to stifle an urge to laugh (it doesn't work) as the ninja prods her relentlessly: "Admit it! You can't imagine what four years are going to do to you, and you think I'm impossibly grown up!"

"I most certainly do not!"

"You most certainly do _too!_"

_-break-_

Yuffie gives another sigh as they turn into a narrow hallway that resembles the way to Aerith's room. "Ah, I should have saved it for Aerith. Now we're going to get depressed and lonely again. Figures that..." Kairi stops in her tracks as the buzzing noise returns. They are getting too close to-- "What? What is it?"

_Too close?_ Kairi thinks. _To what?_ She can't finish the thought, or _really_ doesn't want to at least, but a glance ahead draws her eyes to the door she inexplicably _knows_ is right down the hall. Her skin prickles and feels tight on her hands--it's all she can do to calm down and keep her keyblade from appearing. "I don't want to go down there, Yuffie."

"What? But it's a shortcut! Come on." Yuffie takes her arm and pulls. Kairi shakes her head and refuses to be budged as her companion frowns, bracing herself to pull harder. Her knuckles turn paler than Kairi ever thought possible in human skin. But Yuffie lets go after several futile moments, shaking her wrist out and staring at Kairi with an odd mix of respect and exasperation. "You are stronger than you look, you know? That doesn't sound like much, but it is. Long way around, then. To Aerith!"

_-break-_

After Yuffie's knock, there is a long, expectant pause. Then an acknowledgement comes out muffled by the door. "Yes?" The tone causes Kairi to share a hesitant glance with Yuffie, before the ninja shrugs.

"Hey, sweet pea! Let us in." Another pause. Then the door gives an arthritic creak and Aerith's bloodshot eyes appear in the space.

"S-sorry, but... I don't really think now's a good time..."

"Are you okay, Aerith?" Kairi asks, earning a jab via Yuffie's sharp elbow for her show of obliviousness.

"Scratch that, hon. We know she's not okay--we want to know what's _wrong._"

"Sorry if I was trying to be _nice_," Kairi retorts. Immediately after, she realizes that probably wasn't so nice. However, Aerith smiles slightly and opens the door a little wider.

"Okay. We might as well all sit down..."

Yuffie bounces into Aerith's room without a second thought. Kairi starts to step in, and then catches something flicker out of the corner of her eye. Curious, she stays a little to peer down the hall to her left. The person steps around a corner before she can catch a definite glimpse of his identity, but he was definitely blond--it could have been Cloud wandering with the light glinting off his blade, or Cid coming back from his cigarette break. She definitely saw something shine, almost like a stray shaft of sun.

"I think that was Cloud," Aerith says, and ushers her in.

So it was Cloud's sword, then--that bright thing Kairi saw. Although she isn't convinced because it hadn't looked like _metal_ shining...

_-break-_

The next day, Kairi is slightly lost in her wanderings (she's still not used to the size of this place--the Destiny Islands could easily fit into the old ballroom, she feels) and has the fortune to happen across Cid, who squints at her a moment as she tries to phrase her question both honestly and in the least humiliating way. Then he does it for her. "You lost, kid?"

Kairi sighs. "Yes. I don't think I'll ever get used to this."

"Where are you trying to get? Yuffie's or Aerith's?"

"Aerith's."

Cid turns obligingly and points to a smallish narrow corrider. There must be several hundred of those things, including the one she hadn't felt right about yesterday. "Go down there, then take the nearest right and keep going till you see it."

"Oh, all right. Thanks." They start walking on their respective paths before Kairi has a thought: "Cid?"

"What, you want me to repeat it? I said, go down--"

"Er, no! No--I meant to ask you how you got used to this."

The former pilot scowls. "I haven't."

"But... none of you ever seem _lost._"

"We might not _seem_ lost, yeah," Cid agrees. "But sometimes we are. We don't try to put the whole castle in our heads--that's Leon's job. The only place we all know where to go is the training room, which is where Leon is most of the time. I think he's been sleeping in different rooms ever since Yuffie got mad at him and somehow managed to--" He cuts himself off as Kairi tries hard not to seem interested. "Forget it. I'm not giving you ideas! If you really want to know, ask Yuffie--Leon won't say."

_-break-_

After a few minutes, Kairi stands at Aerith's door triumphant yet slightly out of breath. She puts her hand against the wall and leans for a moment, deciding to cool off before presenting herself to her friends. She catches herself and wonders about whether she can call them that since it's been such a short time (she can't remember how long it took for her to feel Riku and Sora were _her_ friends), then decides she can. Thankfully neither Yuffie nor Aerith appear and Kairi knocks on the door, refreshed.

The door opens on the first knock, startling her. "Kairi! Thought you'd never knock." Yuffie grabs her wrist, still poised in a light fist at the doorway, and pulls her into Aerith's room. "Aerith has just finished taming her hair and she's getting the rest of her ready. Let's talk while she struggles with her disobedient dress."

"I don't _struggle,_" Aerith says from her closet. Her back is turned as she pulls her fluffy skirt over her head. "I just want to be careful."

"You're lucky your boobs aren't any bigger, lily-love. Otherwise you'd need a _zipper._" Yuffie winks silently at Kairi and shrugs her own vest on, carefully avoiding the zipper teeth on the armholes. "Yeah, I know how undignified you think they are! The truth is, you haven't _begun_ to see the awesomeness--and kinkiness--of zippers as fashion. Kairi, for example--"

"Please don't finish that." Aerith turns around, skirt now securely over her hips, as Kairi edges away from the ninja. "Kairi, do you mind helping me with my top?"

Kairi takes the long rope of hair in her hands, looking to the side as Aerith pulls her top over her head before gently pulling it through. It's silky, cold, and very thick, making her feel a little inadequate. Her own hair is smooth and she likes the color, but it grows slowly for girl's hair and it's not thick, which is why she keeps it short. Yuffie's hair is short, at least. She never realized how similar she is to the ninja--in the dark, she presumes, they could be sisters.

"There!" Aerith says, making a few minor adjustments as Kairi lets go. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Kairi moves back to Yuffie, who had been watching with a large grin on her face. She doesn't know whether to smile back or feel worried before the ninja gives her a pointy-elbowed jab and asks in an undertone, "Scale of one to ten, from least to highest: How much did you feel like pulling it?"

"Wh-_what?_" The terrifying thing about Yuffie is that she can make Kairi laugh without letting out a single sound of her own. A smile, a few words, and suddenly Kairi feels her chest start to tighten. How does Aerith stop herself?

"Come on. You had to at least hit a seven."

"What are you talking about?" Aerith asks, sensing things awry as she applies her pink lipstick and Kairi starts to giggle helplessly.

"Um, we are being immature, hormonal teenagers and junk. Zippers! You don't want to know." Yuffie lowers her voice again. "I actually hit a _forty-five_, which is not an exaggeration--to this day she has never let me touch her hair. That's why she asked you."

"What did you _do?_"

"Oh, please!" Aerith walks over in a huff. "Why don't we just go to Eos already since you've both started to talk about--?"

Yuffie undergoes a minor transformation as she turns to Aerith with a smile meant to disarm. "You are especially beautiful today, Aerith."

"Leon should be wondering why we're taking so long, anyway," the gardener brushes the uncannily sincere compliment off.

"Leon's coming with us?" Kairi asks uneasily.

Yuffie rolls her eyes. "Probably because we're all girls and it's his duty to _protect_ us." She notices Kairi's sudden silence and tells her, "Look, don't worry about him sucking the fun out of everything. We'll lose him once we get there. To Eos!" With that, the ninja takes Kairi's arm in one hand and Aerith's in the other, pulling with all her gleeful enthusiasm until she sees Leon turn the corner and stops.

"Oh, there you all are," Leon remarks. He takes something out of his pocket and holds it carefully out to Aerith. "Here, Aerith. Merlin gave me a Haste spell for you, just in case."

"Are you _not_ going with us, Leon?" Yuffie asks, eyes excitably wide. He shakes his head as Aerith peers at the spell. Kairi looks at it, too, because there is something strange about its presence. A low sound is coming from the little shining clock that changes hands--she knows some spells are visible, but...

"--don't think I really need to go." Leon moves his eyes towards Kairi. It takes a moment for her to realize that it's a glance of the Very Significant Sort. Even though she's taken aback a little, she nods and the swordsman turns away as if nothing has happened. But something _has_--Leon has just told her that _she_ is the one who needs to go. _She_ is the one whose duty is to... protect...

"I'll see you all later, then," Leon continues. He crosses Kairi's path and she hears that same buzz coming from the Haste spell, but louder, before he suddenly vanishes around another corner.

"Huh!" Yuffie remarks, displeased.

"Did you hear that?" Kairi asks them, surprised at Yuffie's nonchalance.

"What, that whooshing sound as Leon walked faster than the wind? Of course I did! We all heard it." Yuffie starts walking as Aerith finishes fixing her ribbon. Their Haste spell, Kairi notices while she tags along helplessly, is nowhere to be seen although Aerith has no visible pockets. "I bet he used another Haste spell to run through the castle and find us. It's just neurotic enough for Mr. Wet Blanket. That Leon! Sometimes I try and imagine what--"

_-break-_

"It's not like the principle was exactly the same, you know, but we never, ever got it _back! _That was weird. Normally _I'm_ the one who never gives things back!" Yuffie chatters animatedly as they step into the soft daylight outside the castle. Kairi blinks a moment, then looks around and sees no particular pathway other than the one she took in months ago, with Mickey.

"Yuffie?"

"Yeah?"

"How do we get to Eos? There's nothing but stone all around us."

"Oh, you want to know?" Yuffie asks. To Kairi's nod she continues easily. "We climb."

"We _what?_"

"Climb. Meaning, we pop ourselves over the wall, slide down, and end up in Eos!" she replies, heading over to the rough, huge wall and scrutinizing it for handholds. "What, did you think I meant dig?"

She stares at the towering wall in disbelief, and then does the smartest thing she could have done in this situation: look to Aerith, who sighs and chides the ninja shortly. "Yuffie, _don't_ scare her like that." Said ninja starts to laugh for all she's worth, starting with a solid chuckle before ending up doubled over, with both arms coiled around her short, skinny torso.

"How's that for fantastic--you actually _believed_ me! _I_ can't believe you believed me! 'We _climb._' Wow!"

Kairi's face turns so red her eyes water a little with the unexpected heat; Aerith puts a hand on her shoulder and uses it to steer her a short way down the path. When they stop, and things have settled enough for Kairi to feel really, really _mad_ instead of mortified, Aerith taps the stone with a knuckle and runs her hand along it as if looking for a crack in the wall.

"There's a door we can't see here. I think it was put under an illusion to keep up aesthetics, but I know where to find it. You may want to look where you are, though, since--ah!" Aerith's hand hits an invisible obstruction, and she immediately twists it. Kairi expects the stone to shift, but she hears nothing and is faced with the uncanny sight of her friend passing straight through the stone.

Once through the wall and in the city, Aerith begins walking with undecipherable purpose through the streets of Eos. This prompts Kairi to speak, at the exact same time as Yuffie: "Where are we going, Aerith?"

It doesn't feel as fantastic as everyone made it seem, but it is open and full of fresh air, which Kairi didn't realize she was missing until now. She takes a longer breath; it smells like sun-dried soil and wood, or stone--_made_ things. Cultivated land. The crowds are thin for afternoon, but people seem generally friendly and nod when Kairi smiles at them.

"We're going to the White Dragon," Aerith replies. "_Not_ for drinks!" she says sternly, at which Yuffie looks crestfallen. "You're both underage, remember? Cid asked me to see how Rydia is, and I need to see how her yard's doing after the fire."

"Oh, Cid," Yuffie says. "Figures _he'd_ be the reason behind you going to the only pub in town."

_-break-_

They enter The White Dragon. It is quite empty with only a few regulars sitting in front of plates at varying degrees of emptiness, and the counter is unmanned. Very serene, in fact; however Yuffie takes matters into her own hands and breaks the silence in a spectacular manner. "Rydia!"

"Oh, get stuffed!" comes the contrary shout from the kitchen.

"Business!" Yuffie counters.

"Gimme a mo, why don't you! I'm coming!" That's a woman's voice all right, but she sounds like Cid when she shouts.

"Is she Cid's..." Kairi runs through the list of all possible titles she can think of and finishes weakly, "Daughter?"

A snort from Yuffie. "She's his niece. By marriage. Well--not exactly, but... Just go on and ask her yourself, we've got the time--"

"_Well!_" All attention is diverted as Rydia bustles in behind the counter, an irritable-looking young woman swathed entirely in a practical muddy brown apron and dark green dress. Her similarly green hair is cropped in a boyish cut except for a few feathery bangs, which she scowls through until she sees the three. "Well!" Then her expression brightens and takes several years off her age. "Looks like my girls are in! All right?"

"All right," Aerith agrees. For the first time Kairi hears a quiet accent in the greeting. Whether it's because Rydia's voice is so strong Aerith unconsciously mimicks it, or because Aerith once had an accent of her own and is just slipping back into it out of habit Kairi isn't sure. She has heard the similar roughness from Cid's voice now and again, but...

"Siddown." Rydia motions to the three-legged barstools at the counter. "So! How's my uncle, who's the bird, and Aerith can just go on back and see for herself--you know the way." Aerith bustles off through the back door (at the same time giving Rydia a Very Significant Glance) while Yuffie drags Kairi onto a barstool. Rydia pours out two glasses of what looks like some sort of fruit juice and passes them over.

"Cid's right as rain--never been grumpier! The little bird's Kairi, who just got here from someplace she never mentioned..." The accent coming from Yuffie is as strong and broad as Rydia's, even through the half-glass she's just chugged. Kairi takes a sip and decides she likes it.

"Oh, wait." The door has swung shut long since, but Rydia directs her attention to it expectantly. "Where's Leon, then? Did you leave him for dead in a ditch?"

"Brooding away back home," Yuffie says. "Said some stuff about not having to watch us anymore--I think he was just bored. Good chance he's training himself to death as we speak."

"Aww." Rydia takes out some mugs and starts to wipe them absent-mindedly while she turns to Kairi. "What about you then, little bird? What's your story?"

"She comes up outta nowhere all quiet-like last month and--"

"What? Was I talking to you?"

"Nah, but--"

"So if I wasn't talking to you, why don't you shut up?"

"_You_ shut up!"

"Titchy tea leaf!"

"Green-haired gash!"

The conversation degenerates into Rydia and Yuffie firing more phrases at each other that Kairi doesn't understand at all, which is probably for the better. Aerith pokes her head in, hands full of clipped twigs and pruning shears. Rydia sees them and breaks into a smile. "Whoops! Sorry, love." Appeased, the gardener vanishes. Yuffie and Rydia glare at each other hotly before returning their gazes to Kairi.

"So, birdy!" Rydia begins again. "Your name again?"

"Kairi."

They shake hands across the counter as if nothing in the last thirty seconds has happened. "You lived here once, right? Red hair, blue eyes... Pretty. I think I'd remember your family with that face, but..." Rydia pauses, and looks at Kairi. Yuffie also stares, and it is just then that Kairi realizes she has no idea about what to say.

"Tell us any time now," Yuffie presses. "Come on! Who's your folks?" Kairi shakes her head. Tellah was family, but she doesn't know the color of his hair before it grayed. She remembers a warm maternal voice, dimly...

"My grandmother..."

"Did they die on you, then?" Rydia gives her a pat on the shoulder and reaches under the counter. "Oh, I know how that feels. Here--" The item is a crumbly pastry set on a small-ish plate. "Cold, but I guess it'll do..."

"Er..." Kairi shakes her head again. "Actually..."

"Did they skip out on you?" Yuffie gasps. "I bet it was your dad! Did he leave you to fend for yourself? Did your mum die of heartbreak? Did they both--"

"I... I hope not, but--"

"They didn't love you, then!" Rydia settles on the answer of her own accord once more. "Seven out of twelve, what?"

"I--"

"Spit it out!"

Kairi takes a timid breath and answers honestly, "I don't remember."

A moment of silence as Rydia and Yuffie stare at her; then the door bursts open to reveal a tall, thin form. "Y-yo... Rydia!" The very drunken man shambles in, with a visible slouch and a head of flaming red-hair. Rydia scowls and brandishes a wooden spoon, obviously familiar with him.

"Keep off, Reno! Not twelve yet and you're already pissed out of your mind--you should've died a year back!"

"Don't worry," Yuffie whispers to Kairi as Reno manages to slosh across the floor. Her accent is gone. "He never remembers a word and he's her best customer anyway. When he's sober, though, and not being weird? He's kind of funny and cool. Oh hey, Reno!"

"No, no..." Reno takes a few shaky steps forward, eyes blearily searching the bar. Aerith finishes at that moment (or for the moment), returning with pruning shears in hand. She steps in front of Kairi protectively, but it's not enough to make her feel completely secure. "No, not about booze this time... I thought--"

"You telling me you know your way here better than back to your own house?" Rydia scoffs. "Good grief. Can't you--"

"I... told you! Not for that, I saw something! Something important..." Reno looks around again and fixates on Kairi, who wishes she hadn't peered out from behind Aerith's back. "Wh-who's that behind that chick in..." Aerith glares at him. "Behind _you?_"

"No one," the gardener answers, without even a hint of an accent this time. Reno has no accent either, or it's so thin it's overpowered by his slur. He veers haphazardly to the right as he comes closer. Kairi shrinks the other way, hoping it's just his apparent drunken state that's causing him to hallucinate something important about her.

"That's no nobody," Reno counters. "Not at all." Amidst protests from just about everyone Kairi knows, he sits down on the barstool right next to her and twists her shoulders so he can look at her more closely.

"You're scaring her," Aerith says. It's not a loud phrase, but there is a definite steely undertone to it--almost like Leon's. (Kairi doesn't know if Keyblades work on something that isn't a Heartless; she also doesn't know how to intimidate people into backing off with words. Now, she decides, would be the perfect time for Leon to show up and rescue them.)

"Just hold on! Hold on for a moment, please? I... Honest. I won't be a moment." He stares into Kairi's face with an alarming concentration in his blue-green eyes. "Your name, kid? What's your name?" Kairi looks at Aerith, who sees the sudden involvement in Reno angular face and nods, but just barely. Enough to show she's allowing this even though she doesn't approve.

"Karina... no, Kairi. That's right. Your name is Kairi, and... y-your hair..." He reaches behind his back and pulls forward a thick lock of his very red hair, which is lighter than Kairi's at the tips but near black at the roots. "Blue eyes... Little on the short side, though..."

"Please, no," Yuffie voices. "If you're there, Eos, you are not going to let Reno say what I think he's going to say."

Reno falls silent in contemplation, sloppy unbuttoned blazer hanging open like a dead fish to reveal his wrinkled white shirt. Kairi tries to shrug off his hand, then sees it against her shoulder and freezes. His skin is deathly pale like hers, and he is skinny like she is, and his--well, his eyes are not anywhere near the right color. But they are nearly blank with a rock-steady focus and Kairi just doesn't feel...

"Alex," he says, sounding much less serious and (strangely) more sober at the same time. He has no accent to speak of. "Yup! You're Alex's kid." Finally he leans back, oblivious to Yuffie's gaping jaw, Kairi's relief at his mention of one of her parents (her father?) and Aerith's silent surprise. "Mom told me about you--but I bet she never told you about me. I understand. Anyway, it's nice to finally see you! How've you been?"


	4. Author's Note

**Author's Note:**

Something important has happened! Please go to my profile for details.


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